Japan's carriers to study shared 5G mmWave infrastructure

KDDI, NTT Docomo, SoftBank and Rakuten Mobile signed an MoU to study shared 5G mmWave infrastructure and technical architectures for coverage expansion. No concrete network-sharing plan exists yet, but Omdia analysts say shared infrastructure could cut costs and simplify site acquisition.

• MoU signed by KDDI, NTT Docomo, SoftBank and Rakuten Mobile
• mmWave needs a dense grid of base stations due to short range
• Omdia: sharing would cut costs and ease site acquisition
• No concrete network-sharing plan is in place yet