C-band 5G deployments are receiving a large portion of operators’ capex budgets in 2022 but that doesn’t mean that millimeter wave (mmWave) 5G deployments are dead. In its latest 5G mmWave market forecast report, Mobile Experts said that it expects mmWave investments will return in late 2023 and 2024.
U.S. operators Verizon and AT&T are spending billions this year and in 2023 to deploy 5G in their C-band spectrum. Verizon is expected to devote about $5 billion toward C-band this year and AT&T said it will spend $6 billion on its 5G deployment in 2023, much of that will go to C-band.
But Dan McNamara, principal analyst with Mobile Experts, said that one of the fundamental values of mmWave 5G is that it offers huge capacity gains and delivers high data rates. Because of this, he expects operators will need to deploy more mmWave sites as data traffic on their C-band 5G networks rises.
“The good news about C-band is that there is a lot of investment in it. And as it gets rolled out, customers will see their phones get faster and that will get them excited,” he said, adding that at this point he believes customers will flock to 5G because the difference between 4G and 5G will be much more evident.
“The current systems will see data consumption rise,” he said. “And in areas where that data consumption gets higher, the operators will support that through mmWave.”
McNamara added that while we hear a lot about 5G deployments in the U.S., it’s still a relatively new technology. “Lots of countries have not deployed it [5G] yet,” he said, noting that because of this many consumers haven’t experienced the benefits of 5G.
McNamara also said that manufacturers of 5G radios are working to integrate multiple radios into one antenna, which could be a big advantage for operators because it means that instead of having to fit multiple radios on a tower, an operator could install one antenna that will support LTE and C-band 5G. This would reduce the number of permits and approvals that operators need to deploy their network. “This solves some of the operator pain points that are beyond just pure technology,” McNamara said.
Recently, Dell ‘Oro Group noted that the 5G capex cycle will be longer than past generations of wireless, including LTE. The firm said that the reason 5G’s cycle will be longer is because of all the different spectrum bands that are being used for 5G from mmWave to 2.5 GHz, C-band, 6 GHz and more.