AT&T Shares 5G Vision With FCC Staffers

AT&T executives shared the carrier's 5G "vision, key issues and architectural concepts" in a Tuesday meeting with front office and other FCC staff from three bureaus and offices, the company said in a filing posted the next day in docket 14-177. It said those issues were discussed in this presentation. "Key" emerging trends for the fifth-generation networks include "extremely high speed mobile broadband, and low speed IoT," it said. "Simultaneous connections to multiple technologies" could include LTE-A and unlicensed, with a "flexible" radio access technology (RAT) design, AT&T said. Adding new sub-6 GHz RAT optimized for IoT could occur, a slide said, next to "(~2020)," while new millimeter-wave RAT for speed and capacity was next to "(~2022)." The 5G RAT could be designed to allow for "massive connectivity," the company said. It also eyed virtualized specifications. Executives at carriers have cited the benefits of using software to automate network functions (see 1506030021) and said 5G could start to hit the U.S. next decade.