2021.10.05 – A common core for fiber, 5G could be just around the corner

 A common core for fiber, 5G could be just around the corner

2021.10.05 – Fierce Telecom

Convergence between wireline and wireless networks is one of those ideas that feels like it’s perpetually on the horizon. But experts told Fierce a perfect storm of industry trends – virtualization, disaggregation, 5G, fiber, cloudification – has finally come together to bring the long-sought after approach within reach.

Dave Allan, distinguished engineer at Ericsson and leader of the Broadband Forum’s Wireless-Wireline Convergence (WWC) Work Area, told Fierce he’s been working on convergence for a long time. The ultimate goal, of course, is a common core for both the fixed and mobile access networks. But when the industry took a previous crack at convergence about 10 years ago, he said the necessary puzzle pieces just weren’t in place.

“The thing was, back then cell phones were basically things like flip phones and BlackBerries and the smartphone was only just starting to emerge. And what’s more we weren’t really talking about cloud computing a lot either,” he said. The big difference now is that everything but the core – the devices, the protocols – is IP-based. Additionally, 5G fixed wireless access is already doing the legwork to commoditize 5G-enabled residential gateways (5GRGs), Allan said.

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