Qualcomm announces a new platform rated to boost range and reduce costs for mmWave 5G installs

5G is the latest mobile data standard that has been a major attempted call to upgrade for many personal device OEMs over the last few years, as it would confer access to 'multi-gigabit' speeds and more reliable, higher-bandwidth connectivity. However, this hype seems to have all but worn off fast by now, as more prominent tech-enthusiast content creators observe its capacity for failing its promise in its current form.

Even Qualcomm, a main proponent of 5G technology, now concedes that it can really cost any entity that might want to adopt it, carriers or similar firms included, especially in the case of the mmWave 5G often touted as the ideal alternative to fixed-line broadband.

However, the OEM now insists that its new Compact Macro 5G RAN (or radio access network) Platform is here to solve these problems. Qualcomm asserts that it packs "256 antenna elements" to boost the effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP, or 'range') per base station to as much as 60 decibel-milliwatts (dBm), or up to 2.4 times that of its predecessor.

Accordingly, Qualcomm estimates that a company might save up to 50% on the number of base stations they would need to buy, so long as each one is equipped with one of its new platforms. The OEM projects that it will send samples to potential buyers in the first quarter of 2023.

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