Ericsson looks to get deeper into the U.S. electricity game
Ericsson and partners aim to support electric co-ops with 4G/5G private networks
900 MHz licenses will bring depth to the electricity scene
Ericsson last week signed an agreement to work with National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC), Southern Linc and Anterix to provide private networks to electric cooperatives (co-ops) of “all sizes and service terrains” across the United States.
By working with NRTC, the co-ops now have a comprehensive solution, which includes Ericsson radio access network (RAN) and Transport, Southern Linc’s hosted core and ENM and Anterix's 900 MHz spectrum to facilitate private LTE/5G network buildouts for grid resiliency applications, Ericsson told Fierce in an email.
Ericsson rival Nokia recently said that energy was one of the private network sectors that continues to “lead the way” along with transportation and manufacturing. Ericsson, in fact, has already done work modernizing networks for Illinois Electric Cooperative (IEC) in rural Pike County.
Now, Ericsson and its partners will try to provide 4G and 5G private networks to other electric co-ops across the U.S.
Ericsson said it has other radio systems to support spectrum — other than Anterix's 900 MHz tranche — but noted that “the 900 MHz band authorized by the FCC for Critical Infrastructure Industries is being adopted by utilities across many states, giving co-ops the opportunity to benefit from broad-scale adoption.”
“Anterix’s 900 MHz licenses are valuable in this use case though given the coverage that they bring,” noted Roy Chua, principal analyst at AvidThink in an email.
Electric co-ops
So wait, what are electric co-ops, anyway?
Like the name suggests, electric co-ops are utilities that are cooperatively owned by their members. The US has around 812 co-ops with an average of 24,500 electricity customers each, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Co-ops power 56% of the nation’s landmass, providing electricity to over 42 million people and powering over 22 million businesses in 48 states. S&P Global Ratings, however, expects that in 2024 legislative and regulatory mandates “will trigger substantial utility spending on clean generation resources and generation additions needed to support load growth from electrification directives.” Indeed, solar energy and wind power are already starting to become a bigger part of the electric co-op mix.