That is the view of Tony Eigen, VP of marketing at Baicells, who believes that mmWave will be used by operators in more specific point solutions like major venues or public spaces.
Ofcom recently made millimetre wave spectrum available for 5G networks to use, after mulling the proposal since last May.
The UK regulator said in a statement: “We have decided to make over 6 GHz of mmWave spectrum available across the 26 GHz (24.25-27.5 GHz) and 40 GHz (40.5 GHz-43.5 GHz) bands for mobile technology, including 5G.”
“This spectrum has the potential to deliver significant benefits by enabling large increases in wireless data capacity and speeds, and we want to provide the industry with certainty of access to this spectrum to enable timely investment and innovation.”
The spectrum is expected to enable large increases in data capacity and speeds but the UK has been slower than some other countries in allowing operators to deploy mmWave spectrum.
Eigen added: “Many countries, including the US, are already seeing the clear performance benefits of mmWave.
Data from Ookla in the US revealed mmWave is achieving almost 1.6 Gbps median 5G download speed.
However, Eigen notes that mmWave does have some known challenges, but can still have a key role in the ongoing densification of wireless networks.
“The main challenge for mmWave is that signals cannot travel very far and can be easily blocked by obstacles.
“mmWave networks, therefore, need to be densified to provide reliable coverage, requiring significant investment.”
Thus, Eigen believes that operators will likely want to acquire mmWave spectrum for enterprise private network deployments to connect high volumes of devices that need high bandwidth connectivity.
