- RedCap is a cool 5G technology that bridges the gap between sophisticated 5G devices and simple IoT sensors.
- But it needs to work on a 5G standalone network.
- The rollout of 5G standalone has been slowed by a slump across the wireless industry.
August is a quiet month for news, offering a chance to relax and reflect. You might be lounging on a beach somewhere, pondering questions like, “What the hell happened to RedCap?”
The short answer is that it’s being hindered by the slow rollout of 5G standalone (SA) core networks, but it may also be hindered by companies wanting to simplify their Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem without constant updates.
Reduced Capability (RedCap) is a 3GPP standard that has great potential for the IoT ecosystem. It sits somewhere between the high capabilities of 5G networks and low-capability networks that simply connect lots of sensors. Fierce Network first reported on it last year when it announced that AT&T had conducted a 5G RedCap data call on its live 5G SA network (although it’s important to note that AT&T has not yet deployed 5G SA across its network).
AT&T announced earlier this summer that it was commercially using RedCap in certain areas of Dallas, and is working with both Ericsson and Nokia to deploy RedCap.
But why don’t we hear much about this technology from other operators?
Joe Madden, chief analyst at Mobile Expert, speculates that RedCap’s slow adoption may have to do with the fact that the company operates on 5G SA networks, and there aren’t that many of them around yet. “They’re kind of waiting for operators to invest in standalone core,” Madden says.
Dave Bolan, research director at Dell’Oro Group, said 5G SA is being rolled out in 30 countries by 58 mobile network operators (MNOs). In the first half of the year, three MNOs launched new 5G SA networks in three countries. In the US, only T-Mobile and Dish boast a 5G SA core, according to Dell’Oro’s 5G SA tracker.
Perhaps the slow pace of 5G SA deployment is part of a broader theme in the wireless industry right now. “The industry is in a slump,” Madden said. “Everything is doom and gloom.”
Operators that haven’t yet updated to 5G SA Core are in no rush to do so, because 5G has yet to deliver substantial revenue to cover its significant capital costs. “It’s still early days, but this is a chicken-and-egg problem. Operators that haven’t invested yet are probably slowing down,” he said.
Madden said RedCap has another problem: “IoT is chaotic.” He said the wireless industry rolls out new standards every 18 months, often just tweaks. But companies hate it.
“If you think about utilities, they want their smart meters to remain untouched for 40 years,” Madden says. “They’re not too keen on RedCap replacing their Cat-M devices. To them, LTE devices are just so-so. We’ve fragmented the wireless industry too much by creating too many standards.”
Viet Nguyen, vice president of public affairs and technology at 5G Americas, said that while LTE-M and narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) are legacy technologies, RedCap is bringing IoT into the modern era with 5G, “offering a long tail of great technologies for efficient use of bandwidth,” adding, “This is definitely an exciting opportunity for enterprises because it’s an extension of other technologies that have used narrowband spectrum.”
RedCap was specified in 3GPP Release 17 and received several updates in Release 18, which is finalized in June 2024. Nguyen said the updates include advanced power saving techniques and increased deployment flexibility.
“There’s a lot of testing going on in Asia, especially outside the U.S.,” Nguyen said. “Bharti Airtel in India has partnered with Ericsson. A couple of operators in the Middle East are also looking at some of these systems. A lot of the IoT market is in Europe.”
Can RedCap be used for fixed wireless?
Madden raised the interesting idea that RedCap might be a good technology for fixed wireless access (FWA) customer premises equipment (CPE). He said RedCap might make sense in poorer countries where FWA is being deployed to provide internet to people who can’t afford expensive CPE.
Fierce confirmed this with Jim Neville, senior vice president and general manager of Mimosa, a Radisys subsidiary of India’s Reliance Jio, which is helping Jio roll out FWA broadband to its customers in India.
However, Neville said RedCap will not act as a CPE for Jio’s AirFiber program because it uses unlicensed spectrum rather than the licensed spectrum used for FWA that follows 3GPP standards. Neville said the type of FWA being deployed in India is similar to the technology being deployed by WISPS in the United States.
“Mimosa and other companies are using unlicensed spectrum for fixed wireless,” Madden said. nowThis is just a start. I think when SA Core and RedCap are up and running in India, we will have to use multiple bands, and it will be a good option.”
He noted that India has a population of 1.4 billion people, all of whom want broadband internet to their homes, but the fixed infrastructure is almost non-existent.
