WBA OpenRoaming - An ubiquitous experience of WiFi across the globe.

What is OpenRoaming?

At its core, OpenRoaming attempts to make moving around a wireless world a seamless experience. The standards body connects access providers, with identifying providers and service providers to build out their technology vision. As with all standards, there will be add-ons that provide additional value, at additional cost, which is a primary incentive for vendors to play. Cisco, for instance, will be offering DNA Spaces for OpenRoaming that includes user experience and analytics components.

OpenRoaming will require cross-industry adoption, migration away from all of the proprietary solutions. While it offers long-term benefits to the suppliers of WiFi who have to do the work of migration, the benefits really reside in the end-user value.

The benefits promised by OpenRoaming include:

• Higher quality of service
• No need to track or switch among SSIDs
• A single log-on experience
• Business incentives, primarily through simplicity, to adopters
• Ease of regulatory compliance
• Passive authentication

Get into full. 

https://www.seriousinsights.net/wireless-broadband-alliance-openroaming-initiative-needs-to-focus-on-adoption/

The Need for Globally Harmonised 5G Spectrum

Source 

Spectrum harmonisation continues to be important for the mobile industry in the 5G era. Globally harmonised spectrum enables economies of scale and facilitates cross-border coordination and roaming for end users: a critical factor for the initial deployment of 5G. Regulators and the industry should take immediate action towards the following objectives:

1. Spectrum should be allocated to Mobile Service on a primary/co-primary basis globally or regionally,

2. Consistent frequency arrangements (including band plan and duplexing mode) should be adopted across all markets,

3. Consistent regulatory frameworks should be strived for – same technical conditions should govern the use of particular frequency bands (e.g. emission masks ensuring sharing and coexistence with other services in the same band or in adjacent bands),

4. Harmonised standards: the same technology standard should be adopted. ITU-R Working Party 5D is leading the development of IMT-2020 standards and the mobile industry is working on 3GPP 5G-NR as the harmonised standard for 5G.

C-band (3300-4200 MHz and 4400-5000 MHz)

Spectrum availability for IMT in the 3300-4200 and 4400-5000 MHz ranges is increasing globally. The 3400-3600 MHz frequency band is allocated to Mobile Service on a co-primary basis in almost all countries throughout the world. Administrations will make available different portions of the 3300-4200 and 4400-5000 MHz ranges at different times, incrementally building large contiguous blocks.

The 3GPP 5G-NR specification will support 3300-3800 MHz from the start, using a TDD access scheme. In line with the release plans from many countries, the 3300-3800 MHz band will be the primary 5G band with greatest potential for global harmonisation over time: it is recommended that at least 100 MHz of contiguous bandwidth from this band be allocated to each 5G network.

In order to take advantage of the harmonized technical specification – the 3GPP 5G NR specification for 3300-3800 MHz band, regulators are recommended to adopt a frequency arrangement with an aligned lower block edge of usable spectrum and harmonized technical regulatory conditions, at least in countries of the same Region.

The 5G-NR ecosystem of 3300-3800 MHz is expected to be commercially ready in 2018[1],[2] . As a first step, it is highly recommended that countries allocate 3300-3800 MHz or a portion of it and make it available for 5G with consistent timelines and regulatory frameworks (i.e. frequency arrangements and emission masks). Work is ongoing in CEPT ECC PT1 towards the development of the regulatory technical conditions for the 3400-3800 MHz for 5G in Europe, and the final decisions will be published in June 2018 and will represent an important reference also for countries from other regions.

High Frequency Bands

The World Radiocommunication Conference 2015 (WRC-15) paved the way for the future development of IMT on higher frequency bands by identifying several frequencies for study within the 24.25-86 GHz range (Figure 4) for possible identification for IMT under Agenda Item 1.13 of WRC-19. The 24.25-27.5 and 37-43.5 GHz bands are prioritised within the ongoing ITU-R work in preparation for WRC-19; all regions and countries are recommended to support the identification of these two bands for IMT during WRC-19 and should aim to harmonise technical conditions for use of these frequencies in 5G.

The frequency band of 27.5-29.5 GHz, though not included in the WRC-19 Agenda Item 1.13, is considered for 5G in the USA, South Korea and Japan.

The 24.25-29.5 and 37-43.5 GHz ranges are the most promising frequencies for the early deployment of 5G millimetre wave systems, and several leading markets are considering portions of these two ranges for early deployments (Figure 5), and the two ranges are also being specified in 3GPP Release 15 based on a TDD access scheme[3] . It is recommended that at least 800 MHz of contiguous spectrum per network from these ranges be assigned for the early deployment of 5G. For countries that plan to release 26.5-27.5 GHz as first step, it is recommended that at least 400 MHz of contiguous spectrum per network be assigned; the remaining 24.25-26.5 GHz should be allocated as soon as practicable and specific provisions should be added to avoid fragmented assignments across the overall 24.25-27.5  GHz range. 

CEPT ECC PT1 is developing regulatory technical conditions for the 24.25-27.5 GHz band for mobile use in Europe, which may differ from the conditions agreed for 27.5-28.35 GHz in the USA. If this happens, it would be difficult to achieve spectrum harmonisation. Many other countries will decide the regulatory technical conditions for 24.25-27.5 GHz after WRC-19 confirms the criteria to protect incumbent services. These factors may delay 5G-NR ecosystem development for high frequency bands. Huawei encourages regulators to address these issues to allow the ecosystem over high frequency bands to be ready from 2020.

Other Frequency Bands for 5G

The L-band (1427-1518 MHz) is another 5G candidate band that has the potential to be allocated to mobile in most countries in the world. CEPT and CITEL regions have adopted the SDL (Supplemental Down Link) scheme for this band. The requirement for standalone operation in the band (both UL and DL transmissions) has emerged in some other regions. In the case of standalone 5G systems, a TDD access scheme is a potentially appropriate option, which can accommodate traffic asymmetry in the UL/DL directions with good potential for economies of scale. The same 5G-NR equipment can serve both the TDD and SDL markets.

The 700 MHz band has already been harmonised for mobile in most countries. Europe plans to use this band for 5G. Over the long term, the other frequencies of UHF band (470-694/698 MHz) could also be used for mobile, while the USA has already started the process of transferring the band from broadcasting to mobile service.

[1].GSA White Paper: "The future development of IMT in 3300-4200 MHz band", June 2017. https://gsacom.com/.
[2].China IMT-2020 Promotion Group, "IMT-2020 Trial Progress", a key note speech at the PT-EXPO China, September 2017
[3].3GPP RP-172115, "Revised WID on New Radio Access Technology"

5G - Could it be a platform of dominance for years and change the strategic games?

5G is most buzzing term in telecom industry since a couple of years now. As an technologies its going to be a enabler of many things that's going to affect the economies to far larger extent.

I think while defining objective for IMT2020, even ITU-T was not prudent in sensing the power of 5G abilities that it can bring to world and impact at large.

5G seemed so far being taken as technology next to 4G, which would enhance the communication systems for more better and fast service provisioning and delivery. 

But the real power of 5G capability was reckoned, probably late, and that became the point of conflict for the dominance into 5G. 

As 5G, for many in ecosystem, is still on test bed and trails, vendors like Nokia is in phase of acquiring grant to do research on 5G. On the other hand Chinese vendors are far ahead and Specifically Huawei has not only taken leading position, far ahead of other, but having in the spree of dominance across the globe. 

We should also be noted that 5G is not a confined technology but a notion of many advancement constructed well for delivering connectivity services of all scale. 

We provided our whitepaper for that with a notion of "5G as large scale convergence", hopefully few could have understood. you may here with it (its for beginners too in 5G). 

http://community.xgnlab.com/2019/01/5g-rationales-and-strategic-insights.html

Also most interesting part of 5G is that once it settle its gonna settle for next industry evolution or revolution, like it is there for industry 4.0 and will remain at least till industry 5.0. And that's a worry some for many who reckoned 5G abilities a little bit late. So the dominance into 5G should be distributed, not from particular vendors or from a specific land or part of world. 

That's all late rising community want a margin of time for many others to come forward in 5G field, and their intent is being reflected earlier through politicized game plan, but now even voices to restrain on 5G is appearing on major telecom service providers.  As recently Verizon CTO spoken about to keep the 5G term reserved for future.

Among all these matter, 5G is becoming highly politicized. As per the recent news Jeremy Hunt, the British foreign minister, arrived in Washington this past week for a whirlwind of meetings dominated by a critical question: Should Britain risk its relationship with Beijing and agree to the Trump administration's request to ban Huawei.

In Poland, officials are also under pressure from the United States to bar Huawei from building its fifth generation, or 5G, network. Trump officials suggested that future deployments of US troops — including the prospect of a permanent base labeled "Fort Trump" — could hinge on Poland's decision. And a delegation of US officials showed up this spring in Germany, where most of Europe's giant fiber-optic lines connect and Huawei wants to build the switches that make the system hum. 

Their message: Any economic benefit of using cheaper Chinese telecom equipment is outweighed by the security threat to the NATO alliance.  

The administration contends that the world is engaged in a new arms race — one that involves technology, rather than conventional weaponry, but poses just as much danger to US national security. In an age when the most powerful weapons, short of nuclear arms, are cyber-controlled, whichever country dominates 5G will gain an economic, intelligence and military edge for much of this century. 

The views are from observations and perception, expressed by Saurabh Verma, Chief Technology Consultant, fundarc Communication (xgnlab).

Some of news has been taken from HERE

AT&T's backed Akraino project going to provide open source for Edge cloud

Linux foundation managed Akraino project backed by AT&T is going to provide open source software for mobile edge computing cloud preparation. AT&T has mega plan to decompose RAN functionality into distributed elements and Akraino is for that purpose. 

AT&T is relying on Akraino for high degree of orchestration and ease of deploying edge cloud environment. By decomposing RAN functionalities its can address various application demands and effective management of ran infrastructure. 

The Complete Akraino solution will be a combination of different elements provided through different software vendors.

image source : Akraino.

Why India should not go with the global wind of shortcoming with Chinese vendors like Huawei and ZTE.

Amidst the much hype of 5G and intense attempts to thwarts the challenges around and gain the leads, there are interesting insights to be watched and allude for. 

I took some in context of Indian turmoil to include Huawei and ZTE in its 5G test bed plan. 

There are few industry cues to go with Huawei on 5G, or in general for Chinese vendors.

1. 5G has been there across global in a very limited capacity so far, see the commercial deployment of 5G from Verizon and AT&T and SK Telecom and even the upcoming test beds, all have been in constrained and limited scope. 

2. All 5G commercial deployment have been with rigorous criticism, like for Verizon home broadband service severely criticized by T-mobile  CEO Mr Legere as "fake 5G". As it was on proprietary 5G standards based on Verzon 5G Technical Forum. Also the 5G Which came through AT&T is also under criticism as AT&T shown it with logo of '5G Evolution' not a clear 5G. Both vendors seems to be running on Samsung or Ericsson based equipment.

3. 5G Demonstration from Huawei has been at par with standards in comparison to others, Huawei leadership has been well recognized as BT Chief architect has already praised Huawei capabilities on 5G. 

BT Chief architect Neil McRae  on Huawei capabilities and readiness in Global mobile broadband conference.

"I've been to Shenzhen recently [Huawei's headquarters] and there's nowhere else in the world where you can see" the kind of 5G technology developments that Huawei has achieved, he noted during a panel discussion, though without highlighting any specific advances.

"The other suppliers need to learn from Huawei -- the others are held back by old telco issues," he added.

Not only Huawei but ZTE has also gone side by side with its remarkably innovative streak for 5G E2E Solution like FlexE for backhaul and X-haul kind solution and 5G Converge core for 5G core network solution. Apart from that ZTE solution also enabled pre-commercial rollout on 5G in Europe etc. 

ZTE, in partnership with Wind Tre and Open Fiber, accomplished Europe's first pre-commercial 5G network in October 2017, symbolizing a major step forward for 5G commercial deployment in Europe.  

ZTE seems to be first who satisfied IMT2020 for 5G core networks.

ZTE's latest version of 5G core network is developed in compliance with 3GPP Release-15 specifications released in September 2018. By adopting SBA, micro-service components and network slicing, ZTE's 5G core network can achieve flexible and agile service innovation. 

ZTE recently announced successful 5G call with Chinese service provider china unicom. 

4. 5G Ecosystem is in complete flow with Chinese vendors and Chinese  innovation, Qualcomm investment wings has recently announced to fund Chinese innovative venture Baicell. Altogether global ecosystem does not take Chinese vendors in dissolute. 

5. In an interesting move from Verizon CTO Mr Kely malady, where he recognized that true 5G has yet to evolve and hype around 5G is over hyped, as technology has not been in place in its true form. As per him, more has to come and 5G name need to be reserved for that. 

"The potential to over-hype and under-deliver is a temptation the industry must resists," said Malady

6. T-mobile and Sprint also been reluctant to hype around 5G so far, in fact T-mobile CEO Mr legere called the current 5G as "fake 5G". And their debut on 5G has been around their existing infrastructures and with low spectrum band i.e. 700 MHz and 2100 MHz.   

7. There was some interesting insights on 5G that could be conduced when Vodafone India CTO speak about 5G readiness as a software upgrade only.

Among these all, which i refer to as cues around 5G progress and roll outs with commercials, pre-commercials and even test beds plans. Recent outspoken statement from Huawei CEO  Mr Ren Zhengfei made the dust clear. 

"I personally would never harm the interest of my customers and me and my company would not answer to such requests," Ren said, as reported by Fox Business.

As reported by CNBC, he told the assembled journalists at Huawei's headquarters in Shenzen, China, that "when it comes to cyber security and privacy protection, we are committed to be sided with our customers. We will never harm any nation or any individual.

India has been in on and off situation while taking Huawei and ZTE for its 5G Test bed considerations. Whereas Indian Telecom export specific organization came up with strict restriction on Chinese vendors, but department of telecom and ministry of telecom given a separate stand after initial tussles - and given Huawei a green flag, though ignored ZTE. 

Reason behind accepting Huawei by Indian telecom ministry could not only technical or based on security assessments, but political as well. But as an industry observer, I corroborate with the decision here and even want to extend it further like for ZTE as well. 

Chinese vendors can not be ignored by the massive economy like India, as well as Indian service providers are also in likely hood for them. As Indian Cellular operator association chief Mr matthew has also expressed interest of cellular industry of India in favor of Chinese vendors. This all are due to valid reasons of their capability and suiting prices.

These view are based on industry observation and from Saurabh Verma, Chief technology Consultant, Fundarc Communication (xgnlab).