Futurum’s Ron Westfall examines why the Samsung Mediacom 5G FWA deal highlights major ongoing 5G ecosystem developments such as growing cable operator commitment to use 5G FWA to broaden their addressable broadband market, the further boost to Samsung’s credibility as a supplier of 5G network solutions including 5G FWA and vRAN/O-RAN, as well as the critical role CBRS spectrum can play in reducing the digital divide across rural areas.
Qualcomm’s new Fixed Wireless Access Platform to Bring mmWave 5G Performance to the Network Edge in 2022
Futurum’s Olivier Blanchard takes a dive into Qualcomm’s new Fixed Wireless Access platform, which is expected to bring mmWave 5G performance to the network edge in 2022. Until now, the prevailing expectation surrounding mmWave cell deployments was that network operators would focus mostly on high density markets like urban centers, stadiums, airports, highly industrialized areas, and so on, and that therefore, suburban and rural areas would mostly miss out on ultra-fast mmWave 5G performance. Qualcomm’s introduction of its new mmWave 5G FWA CPE platform changes things. By extending mmWave 5G performance to the network edge, many suburban and rural markets that until now fell just out of reach of the best that 5G has to offer will soon have access to mmWave 5G performance just like densely populated markets.