ベライゾン、Nationwide 5GのDSSローンチを発表

Verizonのテクノロジー担当バイスプレジデントであるHeidi Hemmer氏は、COVID-19の危機の中で直面した課題にも関わらず、Verizonは今年5月までに全国的に5Gをカバーする見込みであると語った。Verizon is, despite challenges encountered amid the COVID-19 crisis, still on track to reach nationwide 5G coverage by the end of this year, said Heidi Hemmer, VP of technology at Verizon.  However, the operator’s timeline for a nationwide 5G footprint places it last among the largest domestic carriers. T-Mobile US activated its nationwide 5G network running on low-band spectrum in December 2019, and AT&T this week said it will have a nationwide 5G footprint later this summer. Verizon’s market position on 5G is heavily dependent on its ability to use dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS), software that allows operators to use the same spectrum for 4G LTE and 5G on a demand-generated and automated basis. “We didn’t want to carve out spectrum for 5G users and decrease the amount of capacity that our 4G users could utilize,” Hemmer told SDxCentral, adding that it’s waiting for software to enable DSS across its network footprint.  “We’re actively testing right now and having success with testing, but obviously we want to make sure that the software is stable and it’s working with the hardware and the devices,” she said. “We have base software but we do have some additional software loads coming between now and the end of the third quarter-ish timeframe.” That work requires software and interoperability across Verizon’s 5G radio access network suppliers — Ericsson, Nokia, and Samsung. Ericsson and Nokia have DSS software commercially available and Samsung says it will release its version of the technology in the second half of this year.  “We are testing on all three of them,” Hemmer said. “So in a market where we’ve deployed Nokia we would use Nokia’s DSS software.” AT&T, earlier this month, became the first U.S. mobile operator to deploy DSS, but it’s only available in limited parts of its network in north Texas. AT&T said DSS will play an important role in its nationwide 5G plans, but it’s also already expanded the reach of its 5G network to cover more than 160 million people in 327 U.S. markets without an assist from DSS. Separate from its DSS plans, Verizon continues to stretch its millimeter-wave (mmWave) 5G network and remains on track to reach 60 cities with its 5G Ultra Wideband network by the end of the year, Hemmer said. The operator also plans to at least double the amount of 5G mmWave nodes deployed in 2021, “so that whatever we build this year we’d build again that much at a minimum next year,” she added. Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg last month said the operator will deploy five times as many 5G radio base stations this year as it did last year.  “We do not have plans at this time to have millimeter wave as nationwide coverage. We will use low band and hopefully mid band at some point to be able to do that. And then we will use … that millimeter wave in pockets where we believe that we really need those slamming fast speeds, and high capacity, and very low latency,” Hemmer explained.  “We’re actively participating in spectrum auctions coming,” she said. “We haven’t been quiet about looking to acquire additional spectrum, and then we will add that to our spectrum portfolio.” The operator also started work on the 5G standalone mobile core, but Hemmer said that will be a multi-year project. “It certainly won’t be finished in 2020 and I think we’ll still have some work to do coming into 2021,” she said. Elsewhere, some aspects of Verizon’s 5G strategy have been muddied by the public health restrictions imposed in response to the global pandemic. For example, the operator’s decision to blanket NFL stadiums with mmWave 5G coverage may not result in the in-person experiences it initially intended for some time.  “If for some reason the NFL didn’t fully pack a stadium, and that’s not what they’re saying to be clear, but if that were the case, we could provide multi-camera angles to folks on their 5G smartphones, we could provide some real-time stats for the players that are on the field at the time, we can provide some [augmented and virtual reality]-type experience for folks,” Hemmer said. “We will be partnering to actually provide customer experiences back to the customers so that they can feel more like they are in that stadium than what you would experience typically sitting on the couch watching TV.” While the services delivered by Verizon’s 5G footprint in massive venues may morph, Hemmer said she’s encouraged by growing enterprise interest in 5G, particularly for fully automated factory floors. “That is even more important now because if you can have less people on the factory floor and a company can continue to manufacture and use a 5G automated supply chain to be able to distribute while keeping people safe — that was a game changer before COVID hit but becomes even more important now as folks are trying to go back with less humans,” she said.