FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai addressed the “Future of Mobile Broadband in the Americas LTE to 5G Network Innovation” on Thursday at 4G America’s Technology Symposium with assistance from start to end from record producer, rapper and entrepreneur Dr. Dre.
“Now, I understand that some might be a bit confused. After all, this is 4G Americas, the event is about 5G, and the 3GPP works closely with this group in the transition from 4G to 5G. That’s certainly a lot of Gs to keep track of. But I think any confusion could be cleared up by one of Apple’s newest hires, Dr. Dre. His 1992 debut solo album, The Chronic, featured the iconic lyrics “Ain’t nuthin’ but a ‘G’ thang, baby,” and I think those words have proved quite prophetic when it comes to mobile,” Pai began his speech which can be read here.
As important as spectrum is to making 5G a reality, Pai said, “We cannot lose sight of another key piece of the regulatory framework, which is removing barriers to infrastructure deployment. To support 5G, providers will have to densify their networks. And to help them do that, we need to expedite the siting of wireless infrastructure. There are going to be many more small cells in a 5G network, and greater densification means better wireless coverage, capacity, speed, and reliability. Carriers are already moving in that direction. Sprint, for instance, has announced that it plans to deploy tens of thousands of small cells in the coming years. The FCC should promote the deployment of this type of infrastructure.”
Pai completed his presentation by noting, “It’s nice to see that 4G Americas is not following Dr. Dre’s advice to “jus’ chill, ’til the next episode.” Instead, you are doing the work that will make the transition to 5G a reality.”