The Wireless Infrastructure Association’s (WIA) Innovation & Technology Council (ITC) released a report titled “The 5G Paradox: The Need for More Offloading Options in the Next-Generation Wireless Era,” which explores the need for additional bandwidth and offloading techniques as next-generation 5G wireless services begin to roll out. The white paper explains that wireless networks need to be prepared for the tremendous increase in devices and connections brought about by 5G, which will require even more offloading to manage additional data capacity.
With 5G, mobile data traffic will continue to increase exponentially, and service providers are seeking solutions to prevent future congestion on their networks. Offloading data traffic frees network capacity, while providing a consistently high quality of service. Customers can make and receive calls and texts, in addition to accessing data, over Wi-Fi or other local connections, including new Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) spectrum.
“Even as 5G networks will bring more spectrum to market, the massive amounts of new connections that will be available could overwhelm networks once billions of diverse devices connect to the 5G networks. So even as new spectrum comes to market, operators will continue to need to use offloading techniques to keep the macrocellular network operating efficiently,” the white paper states.
“The advent of 5G will bring tremendous global connectivity, economic growth, and job creation,” said WIA President and CEO Jonathan Adelstein. “Mobile data traffic continues to skyrocket, a trend that the arrival of 5G will drive even faster. The paradox is that while 5G provides vastly more bandwidth, it will also drive so much more demand that increased offloading is concurrently needed as an efficient, win-win solution for service providers, infrastructure providers, and customers.”
The Innovation & Technology Council report is authored by Greg Najjar, Advanced RF Technologies Inc.; Mark Reynolds, the University of New Mexico; Don Bach, Boingo Wireless; and Luke Lucas, T-Mobile USA. Jim Lockwood of Aero Solutions and Don Bach of Boingo Wireless chair the ITC group, which seeks to provide thought leadership on the future of the wireless industry.