Leveraging HFC Infrastructure to Deploy 5G

Leveraging HFC Infrastructure to Deploy 5G

5G has molded its way to the top of popular consciousness, with promises of lightning-fast, low-latency connectivity and ubiquitous coverage. While improving user experiences in gaming, streaming and online reliability, 5G will open doors to new worlds of connectivity such as autonomous transportation, augmented and virtual reality and smart city automation.

Initial 5G coverage has been accomplished mostly through radio equipment upgrades at cell tower sites, and by leveraging new radio spectrum availability and processing technologies. However, to meet the speed and latency goals of 5G, operators will need to deploy small cell radios by the thousands throughout cities, neighborhoods, metropolitan districts and venues, presenting new installation and management challenges. Each radio must have a physical high-speed connection for backhaul, a permit and location for the radio, as well as reliable power to keep the radio running. Providing any one of these basic elements to a new radio site will require construction, leading to spiraling costs and time delays.