Rohde & Schwarz warns of DSS disappointment

INTERVIEW: Although dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) between 5G and LTE eased deployment of the new network technology, splitting resources can also seriously limit performance experienced by consumers, Rohde & Schwarz technology marketing manager Arnd Sibila warned.

Sibila noted although DSS was “very hot in many markets” and offered great advantages for 5G rollout, it did come at a performance cost. “The use case is we want to share resources through LTE and 5G, [using] the same carrier bandwidth. The benefit is 5G rollout can be smoother because base stations can be upgraded just via a software upgrade. The target is [also] always coverage so operators are usually using low bands for this.”

He added the “big advantage is of course the biggest disadvantage on the other end, because you have just the single bandwidth. On low bands you normally have a maximum of 10MHz and you share this between LTE and 5G. Ultimately the data rate will be very low in this DSS environment, sometimes even lower than LTE alone”.

Sibila noted when users on 5G perform speed tests in this environment, they are often disappointed to find they are getting the same performance as they did on 4G.

During the interview he also highlighted common issues with early non-standalone 5G deployments in different regions, alongside providing insight from the company’s testing of 5G deployments.