How will network coverage for phone users evolve over the next year? Tim Green, a telco industry journalist – and a content writer on the TechComms team – shares two key developments.
Direct to cell
Phone coverage wherever you are
The mobile industry is working hard to reach the 400 million people who live beyond the reach of cellular networks. How can it connect them without building expensive ground-based infrastructure?
One option is via satellites. This tech is decades-old, but fresh innovation is making it viable at last. Satellite firms are flying their fleets lower, fitting them with larger antennae and improving how they direct the signal (beamforming).
Mobile companies are investing heavily in this area. In November, SpaceX’s Starlink unit launched direct-to-cell satellite services with eight mobile carriers in eight countries. Its service is set to give remote subscribers access to texting, calling, and browsing. But longer term, the tech has the potential to boost coverage in all areas and connect millions more IoT devices.
Fixed wireless access
The beginning of the end for wifi?
Have you tethered your laptop to a mobile hotspot? Most of us have. Tethering used to be expensive and slow. But now, with unlimited 5G, not so much. In fact, millions of people are wondering: why bother with wi-fi at all?
This sentiment is powering the market for fixed wireless access, which delivers internet access to fixed locations without relying on wired broadband infrastructure.
Fixed wireless access (FWA) is not new. Carriers have been offering small ‘my-fi’ modules for the home for years. Now, super-fast 5G is giving the market a fresh boost. With speeds between 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps on 5G, it can easily support hungry applications like video streaming.
53 per cent of global carriers currently offer FWA over 5G. In 2025, more deployment of standalone 5G, Massive MIMO and millimeter wave spectrum should give a further boost. Indeed, the GSMA predicts that, in markets such as Austria, Australia, Germany and the US, 5G FWA will account for more than 10% of total fixed broadband connections next year.
Look out for Tim’s second blog in this series which will look at the big changes impacting mobile devices over the next 12 months.
