The Week in 5G: 8/18/2020 — 5G Not Yet A Threat to Wired Internet; India and Israel Expected to Shun Chinese Technology
By Ed Biller
An S&P Global Market Intelligence survey found 93 percent of wired internet users in China are “interested in cutting the internet cord,” and most of that number in favor of leaning solely on 5G, instead – much like how cellular phones have usurped the land line telephone. Similar sentiment is expected to exist elsewhere. However, 5G accessibility, stability, and reliability have not yet reached a level where such a shift is feasible, reports Abacus.
Meanwhile, India is expected to lock China’s Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp. out of its 5G network rollouts amid months of deadly border disputes between the two nations, reports Bloomberg. While Huawei was allowed to participate in India’s 5G trials earlier this 2020, the countries’ border standoff intensified in May and claimed at least 20 Indian soldiers’ lives in June, scuttling Chinese companies’ chances.
“[India’s] Ministry of Communications will restart pending discussions on approvals for 5G trials by private companies including Bharti Airtel Ltd., Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd., and Vodafone Idea Ltd. that were delayed by the nationwide lockdown,” the report states, adding that India already has banned TikTok and other Chinese apps, “citing threats to its sovereignty and security.”
In that same vein, several outlets report Israel and the United States are close to striking a deal wherein Israel would commit not to use Chinese technology for its 5G network rollouts. CRN reports the U.S. State Department's Clean Network initiative, which says it seeks to eliminate the "long-term threat to data privacy, security, and human rights posed to the free world from authoritarian malign actors, such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP),” names Israel, Australia, Canada, Japan, and Taiwan among its partners
In technology news, Qualcomm and China Broadcasting Network (CBN) teamed to achieve what they claim is “the world’s first large-bandwidth 2x30MHz 5G data call demonstration in the 700MHz (Band n28) FDD spectrum band,” according to a Qualcomm press release. The release adds that Qualcomm has worked with “Vivo, ZTE, Quectel, Fibocom and Gosuncn to launch the first batch of commercial 5G devices that support CBN’s 700 MHz including smartphones, CPE and 5G modules.”
Turning to infrastructure, Light Reading contributor Sterling Perrin has warned readers against underestimating the strength of microwave transport across all use cases. He notes that it’s generally been assumed fiber would handle the lion’s share 5G backhaul capacity, but “those early assumptions have proven wrong. Today, microwave is asserting itself as a legitimate 5G transport contender.”
A study of qualified network operator respondents by Heavy Reading found 35 percent of operator respondents selected 10 Gbps microwave as "highly important" for 5G transport, with 49 percent of respondents selecting as key transport priorities 10 Gbps or greater macro backhaul use cases, and 40 percent selecting less than 10Gbps macro backhaul. “Even microwave fronthaul is in play, particularly at 10Gbps data rates, which was prioritized by 23 percent of the survey group,” notes the report.