Muni Wireless: Business Models, Smart Policies, Planning. Stephen Morris, P.E. BroadbandBeyond.com

Muni-driven Wireless SCADA Municipal Offices Public WiFi Public Safety Schools, Libraries, etc.

Policy and Planning- Unlicensed Frequency Competition: X 900MHz SCADA 5.8GHz LAA/ LTE-U 5.8GHz 2.4GHz WIFI 5.8GHz WIFI 900MHz WISP 5.8GHz WISP

Consumer Data Consumption: Wireless data traffic nearly doubling every year. Video is over 75% of data traffic. Youtube: 5 billion videos watched daily. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Netflix, etc. contributing. Keeping up with the growth: Wireless and wireline carriers are having a hard time keeping up. Imagine doubling water or power consumption annually in your area.

Jeopardy Answer: “A bite at a time.” Segmentation Segmentation via Small Cells and 5G. 5G will be 6GHz to 60GHz – Very small area.

Small Cell and 5G - Umbrellas: Fiber and Power Structures under 60 ft. Structures never designed for cellular or multiple carriers. Publicly or privately owned structures or carrier-installed. Backhaul key: Fiber to poles/structures needed and often difficult to run in dense areas. Microwave sometimes. Multiple carriers with different locations and time-frames. Coordination challenging. Multiple carriers as well as increasing mobile data traffic will drive more cells.

Small Cell/5G Steps Per Carrier Permitting and Zoning ROW, Pole Attachment Fiber and Power FCC Studies Landlord Agreements Muni $

Traditional Tower Resurgence: 1 N 2 3 Single Tower 1 Approval Process, 1 Cost N Small Cells N Approvals, N*90% Tower Cost

The Part Wireless Should Play in Community Broadband Plan: Muni-provided Broadband is not a “should” but an individual case study. Fiber architectures are much more future tolerant than wireless and thus, will push closer to consumer. However, unlicensed last mile wireless is viable as evidenced by many municipalities, major wireless carrier adopting smalls cells and LAA/LTE-U as well as WISPs serving over 3 million users. Wireless carriers will deploy more and more small sites in municipalities over time.