Industry’s LMR loyalties remain, but rapid LTE development continues
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Industry’s LMR loyalties remain, but rapid LTE development continues
Meanwhile, Athena Wireless was showcasing its LTE small-cell solution known as Pixie, which provides LTE cell coverage—as well as millimeter-wave backhaul—in a package that is roughly the size of a smoke alarm and costs $12,000.
One of the big questions about deploying public-safety LTE has been whether it would be practical to provide terrestrial coverage in rural areas and to provide enough cell sites in urban areas to meet capacity needs, particularly to also support a commercial partner. Indeed, the notion is very challenging, if each site costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, not to mention the time and money associated with getting site approval and paying for backhaul from the site.
However, if fill-in LTE coverage can be deployed easily for $12,000 a pop with little or no additional backhaul costs, making the economics work becomes much simpler. Such technologies are potentially valuable tools for FirstNet and other LTE operators.
What makes all of these LTE-related developments even more remarkable is that they’ve occurred at a time when FirstNet has yet to provide any real hints about its procurement processes, much less issuing actual RFPs. If this kind of activity can happen under the current circumstances—remember, the FCC only started certifying public-safety LTE devices late last year—one can only imagine what kind of equipment we’ll see from manufacturers when there is a confirmed network design in place and there is money on the table.
Just thinking about it gets me excited about future IWCEs.