By Juan Pedro Tomás
Excerpt:
American Tower expects 4G technology to be the main driver of tower demands in the coming years despite increasing momentum for 5G builds, the company’s Chairman and CEO James Taiclet said during a conference call with investors.
“The overwhelming driver of tower demand today is 4G technology, and we believe that will remain the case well into the 2020s. However, as momentum for 5G builds, a number of trends in network deployments are expected to increasingly contribute to our demand profile as well,” Taiclet said.
“The first of those trends is the anticipated deployment of new spectrum assets, as carriers continue to enhance the capacity and speeds of their networks. Already, 600-megahertz equipment for 5G applications is being deployed on our sites, and several carriers have been vocal about millimeter wave-based rollouts as well,” Taiclet said. “But in my view, one of the most compelling aspects of evolving 5G expectations is the role of mid-band spectrum, including 2.5 GHz, CBRS spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band, and C-band spectrum assets in the 3.7 to 4.2 GHz range,” he added.
