Millimeter Waves – what you need to know.

Millimeter waves are the part of the spectrum that sits between 30GHz and 300GHz, also known as extremely high frequency (EHF) or very high frequency (VHF). In telecommunications, millimeter waves are used for a variety of services on mobile and wireless networks, as it allows for higher data rates of up to 10 Gbps Full Duplex. The typical millimetre waves that are used in telecommunications currently are V-Band (60GHz) and E-Band (70/80GHz).

Why is MMW’s important?

Millimeter waves are the future. They are the building blocks which entire networks are increasingly starting to rely on, and they are the foundation of the 5th Generation (5G) of mobile networking and Fixed Access. The term fibre-like wireless is used, not lightly, as the throughput capabilities in the millimetre-wave spectrum are absolutely astounding, at up to 10 Gbps!

Another reason why they are important is because they allow their users to move away from the congested spectrum, and delivers maximum reliable throughput, without the hassle of needing to mitigate interference. That’s right, on Millimetre Wave spectrum, interference is a thing of the past.

Summary

V-Band (60GHz) is a licence-exempt ISM band in South Africa, which means no license costs. E-Band (70/80GHz) is light-licensed, meaning you deploy and register your link within 30 days after deployment, or fully licensed, either of which, will only cost you R 141 per channel per annum.

Where E-Band (Siklu / SIAE) is solely used for high capacity Point-to-Point solutions, 60GHz is currently seeing an explosion in short distance, high capacity, last-mile Point-to-Multipoint deployments and solutions (IgniteNet / Siklu).

Millimeter waves allow for a great alternative or backup to existing fibre solutions, featuring lower deployment costs, expert planning for SLA-level deployments, and, most importantly, an extremely fast return on investment. They feature gigabit capacity, in point-to-point-, as well as point-to-multipoint scenarios, extremely low latency, no interference, and zero to little license costs, which makes deployment a breeze. All-in-all, we can conclude that millimetre waves are the future, and the future is bright!