Enterprises that choose to invest in private wireless networks can face multiple challenges. Not only are cellular networks unfamiliar territory for many IT professionals, but many deployments require the involvement of several vendors. If these providers aren’t good partners and don’t have a single project manager, the customer can end up herding cats and wasting time.
Mobile core network provider Athonet saw the need to bring together various parts of the private wireless ecosystem and recently formed a consortium of partners to address the private networks market. Athonet’s 5G Consortium includes integrator Bearcom, which has experience building CBRS networks for public and private sector customers, as well as CBRS radio vendors BEC Technologies and BLiNQ Networks.
Other members of the consortium include Spectrum Access System provider Federated Wireless, industrial IoT device suppliers Digi International and MultiTech Systems, roaming provider Syniverse, server maker Supermicro, and customer service specialist Fortress Solutions.
The 5G Consortium is the latest in a series of alliances meant to bring together companies who can together provide a complete private wireless solution. Google recently announced a private networks initiative based on its Distributed Cloud Edge, in partnership with Betacom, Boingo, Celona, Crown Castle, and Kajeet. Nokia has partnered with integrator Black Box, Dish has teamed up with WCI, and integrator Communication Technology Services (CTS) has partnered with core network provider Druid Software.
The consortium does not include a public cloud provider, but the Athonet core is compatible with both AWS and Google Distributed Cloud Edge.
Vendors leading deals
Bearcom CTO Mike Owen said that systems integrators like Bearcom are often called into private wireless projects after a vendor has already done a deal with a customer. In some cases, several vendors will already be involved when Bearcom gets involved.
“A bunch of different OEMs come together, and they go out and find an integrator to actually be the boots on the ground,” Owen said. He said the consortium will give Bearcom a chance to take the lead upfront and present a “single voice” to the customer.
So far the 5G Consortium has not signed any customers, although many of the partners have worked together in the past.
“With 5G deployments growing rapidly throughout not only the U.S. but world-wide, the 5G Consortium is an organization that provides an interoperability safe-haven for those organizations installing multi-vendor LTE, 5G, and CBRS private networks,” said Fortress Solutions CEO Brendon Mills, in a press release.
All of the companies in the 5G Consortium are still free to work with other vendors, including other core network providers.
Lessons learned
Owen said confusion about how to manage multiple vendors could have played a role in the underperformance of Tucson’s CBRS network, initially deployed to help get students online during the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic.
By August 2021, Tucson had spent $4.3 million (mostly CARES Act funds) on a network that was serving fewer than 1,000 households, putting the upfront investment at $4,300 per home. By May 2022, the number of households served had not increased, but the sunk cost had swelled to $7 million.
Owen said the Tucson network’s Geoverse core allowed connected devices to roam onto the AT&T network, which led to smartphones connecting to AT&T instead of the private network and generated large roaming bills for the city. After the network was deployed, Geoverse lost its funding, leaving Tucson with less vendor support for its mobile core.
Many of Tucson’s troubles were not caused by vendors but by competitors in the fight for federal dollars to support broadband. Cox Communications lobbied the Tucson City Council to help citizens purchase service from Cox instead of the city-owned network, and also partnered with the city’s Sunnyside School District to offer free internet service to students, according to local news site Tucson.com.