Reflections and predictions: The wireless industry talks about 2022 trends

The past two years have fundamentally re-shaped how people around the world learn, work and live. Amid the challenges of the nearly two-year-old COVID-19 pandemic, wireless infrastructure has proven to be essential to allowing life, education and business to continue in new ways. The wireless infrastructure industry’s crucial role in keeping people around the world connected will continue for years to come.

New technologies like 5G and edge networks are likely to take center stage during the coming year with the potential to revolutionize how people interact and business gets done. And with the passage of regulatory funding earmarked for additional broadband coverage and new spectrum in the hands of operators, wireless industry experts expect a buildout boom during the coming year. A trained workforce will be more important than ever to accomplish the industry’s work.

We asked thought leaders from WIA and HetNet Forum members to reflect on how the events of 2021 shaped the wireless industry and what they expect to happen in 2022. Read their thoughts below.

Joshua Broder

CEO, Tilson

What was the most significant development that happened during 2021 in the wireless infrastructure industry and why?

“The conclusion of the C-Band auction made a significant impact to the wireless industry. This bandwidth will provide more competition, higher speeds, and better coverage for modern 5G networks. From an industry perspective, this sends us back to basics on scaling tower colocations and filling in the gaps between the towers where this higher band spectrum still needs to be deployed. At Tilson, we have been ramping our tower crew and site development capacity to meet this demand. Please visit our website to view our open positions.”

What trend do you think will impact the wireless infrastructure industry the most in 2022 and why?

Labor availability will meaningfully impact deployments, both because of stronger industry demand and a more competitive market for trade labor across the economy during a hot economy and infrastructure stimulus. A carrier is not just competing with another for a crew. They are also competing with home and bridge construction. At Tilson, we are laying the groundwork now to add new technicians to the workforce through our registered apprenticeship program.”

Jay Brown

President and Chief Executive Officer, Crown Castle

What was the most significant development that happened during 2021 in the wireless infrastructure industry and why?

“There are several significant industry developments that will continue to develop in the coming years. First is the allocation and deployment of mid-band spectrum which will allow the Carriers to widely deploy high capacity 5G networks. Second, is the entry of DISH into the Carrier landscape with a beta launch in late 2021 with wide scale commercial availability expected in 2022. Third, is the commercial availability and deployment of OnGo networks.”

What trend do you think will impact the wireless infrastructure industry the most in 2022 and why?

“We expect to see wider scale deployment of standalone 5G networks which will enable low latency applications to be deployed at scale. The low latency architecture will require fiber connectivity between sites and the distribution of core network functions.”

Dwayne Crawford

Vice President Strategy & Business Director, Belden

What was the most significant development that happened during 2021 in the wireless infrastructure industry and why?

“The question of ‘who pays?’ has been one of the biggest challenges in the past few years as the industry works through network densification to increase the amount of available capacity. In the past, mobile carriers were big investors in wireless infrastructure. If they knew their customers would be in or near a venue — a high-rise office, arena or shopping district, for example — then they would help fund that facility’s wireless infrastructure to provide customers the best experience possible (sometimes even paying a monthly fee to rent space for the infrastructure). Today, this approach is changing. Most carriers no longer have the budgets to continue operating this way, and the onus is now on enterprises to provide their own in-building wireless.

There has been no shortage in changes to traditional business models to address this; however, there was a relatively low-key breakthrough in 2021 when it comes to reducing the ‘how much?’ part of who pays for wireless infrastructure. In partnership with leaders like Ericsson, JMA Wireless and VoltServer, Belden worked on a significant development to introduce Class 4 power in the 2023 National Electrical Code (NEC). This new segment of the NEC made significant progress in 2021 in defining the use of ‘fault-managed power,’ which enables a significant increase in the amount of power delivered to large radios as compared to Power over Ethernet (PoE) — while using much more cost-effective hybrid (copper and fiber) delivery techniques commonly associated with cost-effective low-voltage cabling vs. traditional local powering. Fault-managed power monitors a circuit for faults and controls the power being transmitted. It can detect a problem along a circuit and stop electricity flow when a fault is discovered (when an exposed conductor is touched or a wire is short circuited or incorrectly installed, for example).

This is a big step in reducing total cost of ownership for wireless infrastructure. It goes a long way in easing the burden on who pays and helps continue to drive network densification, enabling increasingly enabling niche applications that leverage the full potential of 5G and beyond.”

What trend do you think will impact the wireless infrastructure industry the most in 2022 and why?

“We’re going to continue to see a collision of business models. Carriers and private industry have started to deploy approaches to enable private 5G (OnGo or CBRS). Carriers are deploying new approaches for wireless in traditional commercial enterprises to unlock the full potential of 5G and IoT, and they find themselves competing against traditional wireless integrators and companies that specialize in private networks.

We’re now at a point where we’ll start to see which of these business models will become dominant and how these two worlds will collide. 2022 is a year where we expect to see these businesses go from a few small projects to many significant projects. The enterprise consumer who has a vision of how 5G can bring value to their business can benefit greatly in the upcoming year from this energy, excitement and willingness to make these models work.”

Bill Davison

Chief Administrative Officer, Parallel Infrastructure

What was the most significant development that happened during 2021 in the wireless infrastructure industry and why?

“The enactment of the American Rescue Plan Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (signed into law by President Biden in March 2021 and November 2021, respectively) combine to provide unprecedented levels of government support for infrastructure improvement (including wireless broadband) in the United States. While it will take some time for this infusion of government investment to fund specific projects, the long-term impact of this important and necessary investment will be felt for decades.”

What trend do you think will impact the wireless infrastructure industry the most in 2022 and why?

We may ultimately look back at 2022 (and the few years that follow) as one of the most important periods in the history of our industry. With all of the national carriers simultaneously and actively investing in their wireless networks they have established a positive growth momentum that will continue in 2022 and combine with unprecedented levels of private and public funding to drive meaningful advancement of a broad range of important initiatives. These initiatives include continued 5G rollout, new spectrum deployment, rural expansion and existing network densification. In 2022 and beyond, our industry is uniquely positioned to support the realization of the improved future state of wireless that all of these initiatives are designed to achieve.”

Dan Gechtman

Director of Sales, US, Phoenix Tower International

What was the most significant development that happened during 2021 in the wireless infrastructure industry and why?

The U.S. is entering one of the busiest times in network buildout that I can remember in my 20+ plus years in the industry, with all four major MNOs planning to build or augment their networks over the next three to five years.  In Q2 2020 the FCC granted approval to T-Mobile and Sprint to merge and required certain business and spectrum divestitures from both companies to Dish with apparent high hopes they become the fourth viable carrier in the U.S.  Dish began ramping up its pre-construction services in preparation for building out the first greenfield network we have seen in the U.S. in many years and rather quickly signed master lease agreements with a handful of the tier two tower companies and then the three major towercos. 2021 also saw the conclusion of the FCC auction for C-Band spectrum with historical amounts of money spent on acquiring it.”

What trend do you think will impact the wireless infrastructure industry the most in 2022 and why?

“In 2021 the C-Band spectrum auctions concluded with all three major MNOs winning their share. AT&T and Verizon reportedly won the majority, and we expect to see accelerated rollouts through tower modifications from both. 5G deployment remains the greatest opportunity and focus for 2022, with all three MNOs and Dish likely to spend at elevated levels nationally. With the use of mid-band spectrum, MNOs will continue to build out 5G ‘light’ nationwide coverage on the macro network. However, mmWave deployment will still be needed to achieve true 5G speeds and capabilities in the long run and small cells and inbuilding systems have proven to be more expensive and time consuming than anticipated.”

Ben Glass

CEO/CTO, Altaeros

“The push to expand broadband continued in force in 2021 because people continued to work, learn and communicate remotely. However, it is apparent that merely providing coverage is not enough. According to the latest GSMA Connectivity Report, over 94% of the world’s population is reportedly covered by broadband. But 3.4 billion people are still not using mobile internet services because the coverage maps are not accurate and the services are not affordable. I hope that in 2022 there will be an increasing focus on service quality and affordability in areas outside of major urban markets, so that everyone can take advantage of the benefits of broadband.”

Bob Glosson

Senior Vice President of Real Estate Solutions, Vertical Bridge

What was the most significant development that happened during 2021 in the wireless infrastructure industry and why? 

“I believe that the Infrastructure Bill, which was signed on November 15^th, was the most significant development in 2021. The long-term impact of this program will be substantial. This should be a generational opportunity to build and extend wireless services throughout the country, improving not only traditional mobile services but bringing additional wireless broadband services to a significant amount of homes and businesses in rural America as well.”

What trend do you think will impact the wireless infrastructure industry the most in 2022 and why?

“Carrier capex spending on mobile networks will continue to accelerate in 2022; and with it, private 5G networks will become an even bigger story in 2022. This will be a game-changer for enterprises and yield a significant amount of news in 2022 related to new and innovative business models, equipment production and new and emerging players in the space.”

Andrés Irlando

President, Zayo Group

What was the most significant development that happened during 2021 in the wireless infrastructure industry and why?

“The ongoing impacts of the pandemic continued to be the most significant development in the industry in 2021. Even as vaccines became more available to the public and employees began to return to the office on a limited basis, the pandemic still brought a number of issues to the forefront: the digital divide, the importance of resilient and reliable networks, and the need for security, to name a few. With employees increasingly spread apart, the need for greater wireless connectivity became apparent. Communications infrastructure powers the necessary digital transformation to get work done efficiently. And hybrid work demands secure operations and infrastructure as well as strong data protection — when everything lives online, it becomes that much more vulnerable.”

What trend do you think will impact the wireless infrastructure industry the most in 2022 and why?

“2022 will be the year in which 5G really begins to matter and becomes the basis for more revolutionary technological advancements. Edge compute continues to grow and the market is shifting toward ‘near edge’ services, with a focus on low latency and the distributed cloud. Consumers are becoming more mobile and reliant on wireless connectivity. Hyperscalers like Google Cloud, Oracle and IBM are investing more resources into near-edge distributed cloud use cases, so strong 5G networks are imperative to support those investments and provide the reliability, security and speed consumers demand.

Business and industrial stakeholders that can take advantage of 5G technology and infrastructure will do so, leading to developments in areas like autonomous manufacturing and autonomous vehicles. As 5G begins its rise, improved aspects like service deployment, energy efficiency and reliability will start to become a reality. We have seen that carriers have designed their business plans around 5G and investors have made significant investments in the space.”

Sean Maddox

Vice President, Northwest, Advantage Engineers

What trend do you think will impact the wireless infrastructure industry the most in 2022 and why?

“2022 will be a big year for edge computing and wireless infrastructure, with the amount of edge data centers increasing rapidly as companies strive to get closer to users and devices to utilize edge computing more effectively. Beyond improving 5G services and applications, edge data center growth will be driven by AI, industrial automation, IoT, telemedicine, streaming, and many more applications. Wireless infrastructure providers are well-positioned to take advantage of the upcoming demand for edge data centers because they have been pursuing the same goal of getting closer to the end user throughout the pursuit of 5G. Infrastructure providers also have access to fiber, power and favorably zoned sites at the same time. We expect 2022 to see significant investment throughout all types of data edge centers, including enterprise, tower, aggregation points, core, and regional data centers.”

John Paleski

President, SubCarrier Communications

“The COVID pandemic resulted in a near immediate paradigm shift in how companies viewed the need for their employees to be located in a traditional ‘office’ environment. When companies allowed their staff to work from home, employees were able to readily demonstrate that their productivity not only remained the same, but rather, in what is probably the majority of cases, the work product increased. As such, the number of employees now completely home-based has risen exponentially, creating possible issues with reliable, secure Wi-Fi (especially outside of densely populated urban areas); and further requiring companies to use VPN based systems, so that their staff can consistently access much-needed information from their company’s server.”

Chas Peterson

Vice President, Strategic Relations, Parallel Infrastructure

What was the most significant development that happened during 2021 in the wireless infrastructure industry and why?

“The award of C-Band spectrum was the largest event in wireless for 2021, and perhaps greater in impact than the T-Mobile/Sprint/DISH agreement in 2020. The level of investment by America’s largest carriers was unprecedented – nearly $100B has been spent on spectrum alone to support 5G. That’s 3-5 times more than what it’s going to take to deploy the networks that will ultimately use that spectrum. Infrastructure providers will both benefit and be challenged by the wave of buildout headed our way in 2022 and 2023. Demand for new wireless locations will shift from small cells and upgrades to collocations and new site builds for carriers to fill in their 5G coverage as well as hit the rural commitments made to the FCC. We will have to quickly scale our ability to meet the combined demand of the big 4, all the while keeping costs in line with competitive expectations.”

What trend do you think will impact the wireless infrastructure industry the most in 2022 and why?

“In 2022 we will see the initial release of many new build plans from carriers, for both wireless and backhaul solutions. Many have steep coverage commitments to make by mid to late 2023, and both AT&T and Verizon have substantial fill-in sites to build in order to create a solid 5G coverage and capacity layer in their networks. This will result in many up-front RFQs and RFPs to find the best partners to deploy efficiently. Partners with solid track records of delivering sites and the ability to help shoulder some of the up-front economic challenges will be favored as deployment ramps through its early learning curve headwinds.”

Mark Reynolds

Associate Director IT , University of New Mexico

What was the most significant development that happened during 2021 in the wireless infrastructure industry and why?

“Opening up the spectrum in 2020 and then allowing CBRS and C-Band available for new network deployments, possibly funded by the owner, user or integrators, resellers.”

What trend do you think will impact the wireless infrastructure industry the most in 2022 and why?

“Embracing neutral hosts CBRS as a way for Private LTE to allow for call flow from public LTE and private LTE for a full service call flow and handoff. With the infrastructure bill deal, this will allow for growth in rural areas in the bandwidth constricted areas. Oversight of these of funds and where they are used within the wired, wireless environment will be instrumental in moving technology and support further.”

Steven Sonnenstein

Senior Managing Director, DigitalBridge Investment Management

What was the most significant development that happened during 2021 in the wireless infrastructure industry and why?

“The most significant development for wireless infrastructure in 2021 is probably the acceleration of 5G rollouts and auctions around the world. The level of network and data center investment ahead will be the largest in history totaling approximately $2.2T globally in the next 4-5 years. U.S. carriers started to roll out their 5G network offerings and heavily promoting 5G connectivity to their subscriber base while other geographies held their 5G spectrum auctions. The user experience will be forever changed as connectivity speeds will increase well up to x100 faster than what you can get with 4G.”

What trend do you think will impact the wireless infrastructure industry the most in 2022 and why?

“One trend to expect in 2022 would be continued governmental push to bring connectivity and coverage to their population. The pandemic and resulting lockdowns around the world have shown us just how under-connected we all are with some countries facing connectivity rates of 20% or below. Governments have realized that distance learning, working and living can become a reality very quickly. As such, global leaders now recognize the importance of providing universal broadband access. This can come in the form of subsidies and/or requirements tied to spectrum auctions/licenses thereby benefiting investors in the sector and/or providers/builders of this infrastructure.”

Iris Troiano

Vice President, Telecommunications East, Advantage Engineers

What was the most significant development that happened during 2021 in the wireless infrastructure industry and why? 

“In two words, spectrum and competition were the significant drivers in 2021.  Spectrum availability fueled wide-scale network upgrades including not only antenna and radio site modifications but also power and fiber upgrades. This in turn created competition in the marketplace not only for subscriber growth but also for people and material resources, both at a premium with the supply chain and skilled workforce challenges. In addition, landlords, towercos, and municipalities alike were challenged to keep pace with the growth furthering the competition for their time and resources.  Being able to successfully partner with our customers, value our employees, and navigate through the resource-constrained ecosystem became paramount to companies like ours to deliver the performance needed in 2021.”

What trend do you think will impact the wireless infrastructure industry the most in 2022 and why?

“Continued growth and competition not only in the wireless but also fiber sectors will continue into 2022 as will the supply chain and resource management, increasing the need for more efficient deployments.  I think we will see an increase in the need for more turnkey services rather than having one company perform the entitlement and another construction, as collectively we will need to lessen time delays in hand-offs and plan further ahead than we have in the past.  In addition, private 5G networks will move from small to larger-scale deployments as security and network control become more important to large enterprises. Solid partnerships between customers and vendors that have the depth and skill set to perform a broad suite of services will be the key to success.”

Jacky Wu

Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, DigitalBridge Group

What was the most significant development that happened during 2021 in the wireless infrastructure industry and why?

“The C-Band and mid-band spectrum auction. The billions of dollars invested by both large and rural carriers alike will have a profound transformation for the industry for the next decade. The ability for Verizon and its peers to deploy these frequencies to both macro and micro cell sites will enable the unlocking of new demand services like autonomous electric vehicles that will support our leading global economy work toward sustainable ESG initiatives while making the quality and standards of living for all individuals significantly better in the long run — augmenting labor productivity with remote work capabilities and increasing e-learning and telehealth opportunities.”

What trend do you think will impact the wireless infrastructure industry the most in 2022 and why?

“Continued virtualization of core network capabilities by major carriers like AT&T and Verizon but also the enterprise like Amazon and Microsoft is a trend I most look forward to seeing in 2022. Not only will these efforts unlock more demand services, but it will further strengthen cybersecurity and just in time data analytics that will streamline logistics, supply and production but also enhance creative research and development that will continue to transform this world into the ‘Jetsons reality. Who didn’t love George, Jane, Judy, Elroy and Astro?!?”

Seri Yoon

Director of Marketing, ADRF

What was the most significant development that happened during 2021 in the wireless infrastructure industry and why?

“The $81B C-Band auction in February, largely dominated by Verizon and AT&T, was the most significant development in 2021 because it signaled mobile carrier commitment to making nationwide 5G a reality. Toward the beginning of the 5G era, Verizon and AT&T placed heavy emphasis on mmWave, which offers very high speeds and low latency but doesn’t do well with obstacles and long distances. T-Mobile needed less of this spectrum because they were already using Sprint’s 2.5GHz for mid band and their 5G positioning was already solid in this area. This auction set in motion very healthy competition between the three major U.S. carriers in 2022 and beyond, which is always great for consumers and enterprises.”

What trend do you think will impact the wireless infrastructure industry the most in 2022 and why?

“Similar to how C-Band was the most significant development in 2021, we believe C-Band services turning on in January will have a major impact for the in-building wireless industry in 2022. Thousands of existing buildings will have to upgrade their DAS supporting 4G/LTE and upgrade it to C-Band for 5G. We are already seeing a great deal of interest from carriers looking to upgrade DAS in buildings to C-Band in preparation. In addition, we expect private networks to continue rising in popularity as the collective goal of public and private 5G/LTE is to bring the network closer to the business and reduce latency.”