Sub-6 GHz to win LTE last-mile backhaul trophy

Sub-6 GHz OFDM non-line-of-sight (NLOS) technology will become the most popular choice for last-mile backhaul by 2018, according to a fresh report from ABI Research. When available, fiber-based backhaul will be the second most popular choice, followed by millimeter-wave and more traditional line-of-sight (LOS) microwave backhaul links, said the firm. "The large change in backhaul type we see from 2013 to 2018 is due to the very strong ramp of LTE small cells with the number of LTE small cells deployed exceeding that of LTE macro eNodeB's in 2016 and reaching more than [two times] the number of LTE macrocells by 2018," said Nick Marshall, ABI principal analyst. For more, see this ABI release.