Industry Insights Newsletter #8
In this Industry Insights Newsletter from Alpha Wireless,?Luke Kehoe?shares the latest news from the telecommunications industry, including stories on Charter Communications ' plans to deploy CBRS Spectrum, Cellnex Telecom 's new private 5G deal and Anterix offloading their 900MHz spectrum licences portfolio.
Charter to deploy CBRS spectrum widely over time | ? Light Reading
The cable operator is keen on reducing operational expenses and boosting the profitability of its ballooning wireless subscriber base. Charter aims to achieve this by increasing the proportion of data traffic that transits its own infrastructure, whether through Wi-Fi hotspots or CBRS small cells. It is well-positioned to accomplish this goal - it has invested $464 million in over 210 CBRS licenses and currently benefits from 87% of data traffic being offloaded to Wi-Fi. While the operator is rolling out CBRS in one unnamed market and intends to do so in every county where it acquired spectrum, it sounded a more conservative note about the pace of CBRS expansion. "The extent and depth to which we deploy CBRS is really just going to be a mathematical decision on what's the return calculation”, CEO Chris Winfrey explained. Charter is expected to utilise strand-mounted radios to support the majority of its CBRS deployments, which will be based on gear from multiple different vendors, and concentrated in high-traffic hotspots. In addition to CBRS, the company has also shown interest in the 3.1GHz-3.45GHz, 7GHz, and 37GHz bands.?
Cellnex inks private 5G deal with Airbus in Europe for critical comms | RCR Wireless News
Europe’s largest tower company, Cellnex, has partnered with Airbus to collaborate on private 5G solutions for public safety agencies and enterprises. The two companies have inked a memorandum of understanding that will allow Airbus to leverage Cellnex’s sprawling tower portfolio, consisting of 138,000 sites, as well as its spectrum holdings and networking expertise, to deploy private wireless solutions to European customers. The French aerospace firm aims to increase sales to public safety agencies, airports, healthcare, utilities, and energy companies on the continent. It already offers its Agnet solution for mission-critical communications to a large number of clients. Agnet is primarily based on TETRA radio and facilitates individual and group video calls, geo-positioning, and team mapping. The development is the latest in a series of strategic moves by Spain’s Cellnex to better utilise its tower presence in Europe. The company has been expanding its IoT solutions by deploying NB-IoT and LoRaWAN equipment at its tower sites in various markets.?
Anterix offloads portfolio of 900MHz spectrum licences to The Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) | Fierce Wireless
The agency, which has delivered power to Texas-based utilities for decades, is now gearing up to offer them private LTE solutions as well. It is splashing out $30 million to acquire 6MHz of 900MHz spectrum licences from Anterix as part of its plans to build its own private LTE network and replace its existing narrowband infrastructure. "The network will provide a host of upgrades that will benefit LCRA and our customers by significantly improving data transmission, overall communication capabilities and resilience”, explained Ken Price, LCRA’s chief operating officer.
About the Author: Luke Kehoe
Luke is a telecoms analyst, consultant and entrepreneur. He is a strategic advisor to a number of companies in the telecoms industry and shares his extensive expertise in fixed and mobile networks with national and local government through consultancy. He is a regular contributor to the Business Post’s telecoms coverage in Ireland and is a prominent voice in the telecoms industry through his writing. Luke has supported several national and international thought leadership studies in areas such as 5G, IoT, open RAN and edge computing.