Mid-Band to Dominate 5G Deployments: ABI

About 90% of 5G cellsites in emerging markets will operate using sub-6 GHz bands by 2026, ABI Research projected Thursday. Mid-band will dominate deployments, ABI said. “Sub-6 GHz bands will provide the best-in-class coverage while catering for sufficient capacity in emerging markets,” the firm said: “While millimeter-wave, with its larger amount of bandwidth, can meet very high-capacity demand use cases, its poor propagation characteristics and cost of deployment puts it in a disadvantage compared to sub-6 GHz bands for 5G.” Low-band will be allocated for 5G in 50% of countries, compared with mid-band in 87%, ABI said.