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Apple Granted License to Test 5G Wireless Broadband

You can add Apple to the long and growing list of companies conducting millimeter wave broadband trials as fifth generation (5G) broadband looms on the horizon. The FCC just approved the company's application for an experimental license to test millimeter wave technology in two locations near the company's offices in Milpitas, California. The application makes particular reference to using the 28 and 39 GHz bands, which the FCC approved for commercial use for 5G services last year.

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"Apple Inc. seeks to assess cellular link performance in direct path and multipath environments between base station transmitters and receivers using this spectrum," the application states.

"These assessments will provide engineering data relevant to the operation of devices on wireless carriers’ future 5G networks," the company added.

Apple joins a growing roster of companies testing millimeter wave broadband including Starry, Google, Facebook, and most major cellular carriers. Because millimeter wave (mmWave) transmits at higher frequencies and a smaller wavelength of between 30 GHz and 300 GHz, it's capable of reducing latency and notably expanding data transmission capacity. There are, however, still line of sight issue with mmWave that hardware vendors are working to minimize.

While companies are testing the hardware and software that will make up the standard eventually, the 5G standard still hasn't been completed, and any serious deployment of 5G technology isn't expected to occur until at least 2020. What exactly an Apple millimeter wave offering would look like in commercial practice isn't spelled out in the application.

Most recommended from 8 comments



pclover
join:2008-08-02
Santa Cruz, CA

6 recommendations

pclover

Member

Frequency has nothing to do with latency

The frequency has absolutely nothing to do with latency. The channel access method and distance do.