The emerging opportunity

for 5G mmWave Fixed

Wireless Access

Technology white paper

 Contents

Executive summary 3
Introduction 4
Deployment strategies for mmWave 5
High performance CPE key to mmWave success 6
Conclusions 8
Abbreviations 8

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The emerging opportunity for 5G mmWave Fixed Wireless Access
Executive summary
The viability of widescale mmWave FWA deployments depends on overcoming two significant challenges:
signal loss and customer self-install. This paper outlines a technology breakthrough from Nokia that
overcomes these challenges and paves the way for new product development to accelerate FWA
connectivity around the world.

Introduction
The last two years have shown the necessity of connecting every home with ultra-broadband. Accordingly,
operators are deploying new networks at an accelerated pace, and there is an important role for Fixed
Wireless Access (FWA) to play.
Both fully converged and mobile-only operators can benefit from FWA. For a fully converged operator, fixed
wireless access can speed up network deployments and create a better business case than a full-fiber
strategy by addressing those areas where fiber remains too expensive to roll out, takes too long to deploy,
or is hindered by right-of-way issues. For a mobile-only operator, fixed wireless access is a way of leveraging
their existing infrastructure to swiftly move into an adjacent market and compete with the fixed broadband
providers, improving the return on investment of their spectrum and infrastructure assets in the process.
Like any new technology, FWA is not without its challenges, especially 5G mmWave FWA, which has the
potential to provide broadband speeds comparable with fiber. However, Nokia has overcome these
challenges to make it possible to deploy mmWave FWA far more effectively than ever before.
This paper discusses the opportunity that is created by a maturing mmWave technology and outlines
technology, regulation, and deployment considerations.

The mmWave opportunity for fixed wireless access

Until recently, mmWave spectrum was not widespread, limiting the number of operators able to adopt
and champion the technology. Now, spectrum is available more extensively with most attention currently
on the 24-28 GHz band. Figure 1 shows significant amounts of spectrum available in all major markets,
compared to the available spectrum in the sub-6 GHz bands. The future will see the 37-40 GHz range
becoming available (the US currently leads the way in regulation of this spectrum). Some of the
24-28 GHz spectrum has already been auctioned at a fraction of the cost ($/Hz) of lower bands.

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The emerging opportunity for 5G mmWave Fixed Wireless Access
Figure 1. Main spectrum bands for 5G in selected markets (not to scale)

<1 GHz 3 GHz 4 GHz 5 GHz 7 GHz 24-28 GHz 37-40 GHz 57-71 GHz
24.25-24.45 GHz
24.75-25.25 GHz 37.6-38.6 GHz
600 MHz (2x35) 3.45-3.55 GHz 3.7-3.98 GHz 4.94-4.99 GHz 5.925-7.125 GHz 25.25-27.5 GHz 27.5-28.35 GHz 38.6-40 GHz 47.2-48.2 GHz 57-71 GHz

3.55-3.7 GHz 37-37.6 GHz

700 MHz (2x30) 3.4-3.8 GHz 3.8-4.2 GHz 5.925-6.425 GHz 6.425-7.125 GHz 24.25-27.5 GHz 40.5-43.5 GHz 57-71 GHz

700 MHz (2x30) 3.4-3.6 / 3.6-3.8 GHz 3.8-4.2 GHz 5.925-6.425 GHz 6.425-7.125 GHz 24.25-27.5 GHz 40.5-43.5 GHz
57-71 GHz

24.25-26.5 GHz

700 MHz (2x30) 2515-2675 MHz 3.3-3.6 GHz 3.6-4.2 GHz 4.4-4.5 GHz 4.8-4.96 GHz 5.925-7.125 GHz 24.75-27.5 GHz 40.5-43.5 GHz 66-71 GHz

5.1-5.3 GHz
3.4-3.42 / 3.42-3.7 GHz 3.7-4.0 GHz 5.49-5.65 GHz 5.925-7.125 GHz 26.5-28.9 GHz 57-64 / 64-71 GHz

3.6-4.1 GHz 4.5-4.6 GHz 4.9-5 GHz 7.025-7.125 GHz 26.6-27 GHz 29.1-29.5 GHz 39-43.5 GHz 57-64 / 64-71 GHz

27-28.2 GHz

700 MHz (2x35) 3.3-3.4 GHz 3.6-3.7 GHz 7.025-7.125 GHz 24.45-27.15 27.5-29.5 GHz 37-43.5 GHz
57-64 / 64-71 GHz

Licensed Managed shared Unlicensed Licensed/Unlicensed TBD

Future frequency ranges in ORANGE

Available spectrum is, of course, only useful when technology is available, and sufficiently mature, to
use it. The core technology is standardized in 5G Release 15, leveraging the strong 3GPP eco-system.
mmWave chipsets are available with several more currently being developed, and a healthy supplier market
is expected to emerge in the coming years. Early deployments have already taken place, and, importantly,
mmWave technology has already been introduced in consumer handsets. The consumer handset market
drives significant economies of scale, benefiting the entire 5G mmWave eco-system.

Deployment strategies for mmWave

mmWave fixed wireless access was envisioned to be used in two highly distinct use cases:
• An urban, high-density FWA service, where densification of the mobile infrastructure is both required (due
to limited line-of-sight) and more economically viable. Densification of this scale comes with a few operational
challenges in site acquisition, power, backhaul, and network design. The lack of well-located available sites in
these high-density urban environments will lead to significantly higher costs compared to the theoretically
optimal network design. Furthermore, on those sites, power and fiber for backhaul are not always easy to
access. Technology has been recently standardized to allow for wireless in-band backhaul (IAB) as a stop-gap
solution to the lack of fiber backhaul, but this still does not solve the powering requirement.

5G Dense mmWave 5G 5G
• Fiber-like performance
Small cell at fiber-like cost Small cell Small cell
• Dense small cell network

Long Reach mmWave

5G
• 6 km+ distances
Base station • Outdoor receivers
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The emerging opportunity for 5G mmWave Fixed Wireless Access
• A direct LoS deployment with highly directive antennas using outdoor FWA devices and requiring an
engineer installation. This use case is championed by operators aiming to use mmWave FWA over long
distances to solve rural connectivity challenges. In practice this will require additional effort, e.g., seeking
elevated installation positions for FWA CPEs to achieve the required LoS conditions. However, in specific
settings,
5G like rural environments
Dense mmWave with a sparse 5Gpopulation and no internet access service5Gwhatsoever, the
• Fiber-like performance
extra effort
Small cell makes at sense.
fiber-like Another
cost use case
Small cell multi-dwelling units, where LoS can
is for becellachieved with
Small
rooftop installations
• Denseandsmallthe cost shared between tenants.
cell network

Long Reach mmWave

5G
• 6 km+ distances
Base station • Outdoor receivers

5G Dense mmWave 5G 5G
• Fiber-like performance
Nokia believes
Small cell that the mostcost
at fiber-like likely deployment scenario
Small cell for mmWave FWA is to relieve Small sub-6
cellGHz capacity
• Dense small cell network
bottlenecks. In this model, mmWave RAN equipment can be colocated at pre-existing macro sites with end-
mmWave capacity overlay Sub-6 GHz
users having
5G a single, dual-band
• Free CPE (precious
sub-6 GHz capacity device spectrum)
that makes use of the5Gsub-6
• Initial GHz coverage. mmWave will then
FWA rollout
offload capacity from sub-6 resources and make it available more towards cost
Base station • More robust service for all • Agile deploymnet, thecompetitive
edges of cells, with end-users
receiving better throughput as a result. This has the added advantage of preserving precious spectrum for
Long Reach mmWave
eMBB applications
5G and providing better service to the existing coverage area. Furthermore, this dual-band
• 6 km+ distances
model is simpler
Base station to achieve
• Outdoor than densification, allowing operators to reserve densification, with its higher
receivers
cost, for delivering high sustained rates in areas where the take-rates make it commercially attractive.

mmWave capacity overlay Sub-6 GHz

5G
• Free sub-6 GHz capacity (precious spectrum) • Initial 5G FWA rollout
Base station • More robust service for all • Agile deploymnet, cost competitive

High performance CPE key to mmWave success

The dual-band offload deployment model with a dual-band mmWave CPE allows for a cleaner roll out,
where the mmWave network is not required to cover 100% of the target area. Each additional dBi in CPE
antenna gain directly corresponds to an increased link budget, increasing the mmWave coverage, and
freeing more capacity from the sub-6 GHz band.
But the holy grail that will enable widescale mmWave CPE deployment is true customer self-installation.
Customer self-install is vital for commercial viability (time-to-revenue and TCO) and customer satisfaction.
This has proven difficult due to mmWave’s susceptibility to signal loss caused by non-LoS conditions,
penetration through walls and windows, and people and objects moving around and altering the indoor
environment. External and internal environments make it impossible to predict the best position and
orientation for the CPE to receive a signal that has usually been reflected or refracted one or more times
en route from the mmWave base station. “Clean” signals and reflections can come from any direction;
hence, end-users cannot be easily guided on where to correctly place a mmWave CPE, or where to point it.
In such a challenging environment, a system that avoids this penalty in any direction is highly desirable.

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The emerging opportunity for 5G mmWave Fixed Wireless Access
Nokia technology innovations
To address these challenges, Nokia has developed a 360-degree high-gain 5G mmWave technology, which
provides very high mmWave antenna gains, cost-efficiently and power efficiently. The technology captures
the full 360° environment around the CPE and can, therefore, capture all reflections that arrive at the
CPE, independent of its orientation. This leads to excellent self-installation capabilities, where the CPE
is resilient/agnostic to the placement by the end-user.
Figure 2. The indoor environment
..

Reflections

Objects

gNB
Penetration loss

Distance and
angle to gNB

Due to the shorter wavelength, mmWave is far more sensitive to obstructions and interference than mid-
band 5G. We can expect occasional obstructions and changes to the in-home radio environment simply
due to the fact that people are living there. For this reason, successful self-install also depends on CPE
being able to rapidly adapt to overcome changes in the environment, e.g., people and pets moving around,
doors opening and closing, and any other temporary blocking of the direct LoS signal or reflections
(Figure 3). The CPE needs to detect these changes and take advantage of the best available signal
at any time, even an indoor or outdoor reflection, to remain connected to a mmWave signal.
The 360° high-gain antenna creates a fingerprint of the radio environment, as shown in Figure 3. The
device then selects the best available signal to connect to the base station (gNB). The device continues
to monitor the environment and, if signal strength drops, will immediately switch to the next best
available signal. Note that in the FR1+FR2 offload model, the device will always be connected to FR1.
Hence, if there’s a short interruption on mmWave, there is still the sub-6 GHz connection ensuring
service continuity. Such short interruptions do not impact the mmWave off-load capabilities. Figure 3
shows an example where the direct LoS signal is impeded but a strong reflection off an internal wall is
available instead.
We have taken our technology from our lab and into trials in a dense urban environment with consistently
excellent results. These trials have proven that the combination of high gain and 360° FoV provides the
best possible indoor coverage, while making customer self-install a possibility for the very first time.

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The emerging opportunity for 5G mmWave Fixed Wireless Access
We’ve also shown that Nokia’s 360° high-gain mmWave technology delivers industry-leading gain for the
FWA residential CPE market. This gain is sufficient to cross the outdoor/indoor barrier in most cases and
deliver high-capacity FWA consumer services. The 360° self-alignment capability ensures the best possible
signal reception, both in LoS and non-LoS conditions, whether signals are obstructed, attenuated, or
diffracted. This is what will enable true self-install by the user.
Our trials have proven that the combination of high gain and 360° FoV provides the best possible indoor
coverage, while making customer self-install a possibility for the very first time.

Figure 3. Indoor environment’s signal fingerprint

..

Our trials have

2 proven that the
5 combination of high
gain and 360° FoV
1 provides the best
4
possible indoor
coverage, while
making customer
self-install a
3 6 possibility for the
very first time.

Figure 3 provides an example of one of our many test environments. It shows mmWave coverage deep
inside the apartment (the green circles provide coverage), and also illustrates the incident direction at
various places in the apartment. In position 3, for example, the best signal is a reflected signal from the
opposite wall.
The trial proved that the 360° high-gain technology could connect most homes in similar environments
with at least 1 Gb/s depending on the available mmWave spectrum.

Conclusions
Early 5G deployments were built on 5G in the mid-bands due to the availability of spectrum, coverage over
the existing LTE footprint, and the clear business case based on both enhanced mobile broadband services
(eMBB) and new revenues from Fixed Wireless Access. Now that the future of 5G FWA is secure, we need to
plan and build for increased capacity, speeds and coverage in FWA deployments. Successful operators will
use the low-, medium- and high-band spectrum available to them for FWA just as they do for mobility. With
new deployment models, mmWave can be deployed economically as a capacity overlay enabling a better
user experience across mmWave and mid-band services. However, the success of mmWave FWA depends
on overcoming the very real technology challenges outlined in this paper.

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That is exactly what Nokia has demonstrated. FWA is vital for connecting the millions of households
worldwide which still have no life-enhancing internet access. Our technology innovation, with high-gain,
360° FoV and self-optimizing signal algorithms, opens the door to products that enable commercially
viable, customer-satisfying, widescale deployments of 5G FWA in the very near future.

Abbreviations
CPE Customer premises equipment
dBi Decibel (isotropic)
eMBB Enhanced mobile broadband
FoV Field of view
FR1 410 – 7,125 MHz frequency range
FR2 24,250 – 52,600 MHz frequency range
FTTH Fiber-to-the-home
FWA Fixed wireless access
gNB gNodeB base station
IAB Integrated access and backhaul
LoS Line-of-sight
MBB Mobile broadband
RAN Radio access network
RF Radio frequency
RFIC Radio-frequency integrated circuit
TCO Total cost of ownership

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Document code: 1425105311006127024 (October) CID210857