Developed with input from mobile carriers, telecommunications equipment manufacturers, and Wi-Fi advocates, the WBA & NGMN Joint Task Force: RAN Convergence White Paper explores the importance of existing and future cellular and Wi-Fi convergence, highlighting techniques that enable convergence and identifying solutions to bridge technology gaps.
 
According to the paper's findings, mobile carriers will benefit from Wi-Fi and 5G convergence by gaining better visibility into Wi-Fi networks, allowing them to control the customer experience, offer better customer services, and provide enterprise-grade Wi-Fi. Meanwhile, Wi-Fi carriers will benefit from convergence by gaining better visibility and management of the transition as they operate overlapping cellular and Wi-Fi networks, ultimately resulting in an improved user experience. Furthermore, enterprise Wi-Fi networks will gain the ability to access carrier-provided 5G services.
 
It is important to highlight that the document also identifies new business opportunities created through the convergence of Wi-Fi and 5G at the network and RAN layers, including use cases for enterprise, manufacturing, public hotspots, and residential applications. Some of the key use cases covered in the document include:
 
5G and Wi-Fi convergence for enterprise Wi-Fi: Currently, most enterprises use Wi-Fi technology to provide wireless access to employees, contractors, and visitors. The document identifies three Wi-Fi and 5G convergence scenarios to ensure a diverse set of deployment scenarios and business opportunities for both Wi-Fi providers and mobile operators.

Factories of the future: Industry 4.0, or the Fourth Industrial Revolution, is driving a significant increase in the amount of data traversing the network, especially in low-power wide area networks (LP-WANs). At the same time, manufacturers are increasingly incorporating machine learning (ML), artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), advanced analytics, and automation into their processes. This document provides an implementation scenario for a manufacturing environment where the convergence of 5G NR and Wi-Fi is used to provide improved connectivity, traffic routing, and support for Wi-Fi devices with and without identity credentials.

Connected cities: Businesses and cities are increasingly deploying Passpoint-enabled Wi-Fi hotspots to provide the public with internet connectivity. The document includes two scenarios illustrating how the convergence of Wi-Fi and 5G will enable businesses and cities to create contiguous Wi-Fi access using public hotspots.

Residential connectivity: Consumers use a variety of devices to provide Wi-Fi connectivity for mobile and fixed devices at home, including Ethernet, power lines, and coaxial cable. Additionally, residential local area networks (LANs) are increasingly connected to community Wi-Fi services, while femtocells are used to bolster connectivity in certain deployments. This paper presents a scenario for providing mixed traffic within home Wi-Fi networks and 5G femtocell deployments.
 
The paper concludes that a new set of 5G use cases and verticals may require combined cellular and Wi-Fi network resources. This will provide cost-effective solutions that meet diverse requirements for performance, latency, connection density, coverage, availability, and reliability. This is especially important for smartphones, which carry a significant amount of data traffic when accessing Wi-Fi. The convergence of Wi-Fi and 5G will lead to an improved user experience for smartphone customers and create new business opportunities for Wi-Fi and mobile operators.
 
Furthermore, the document addresses a number of challenges that exist when integrating Wi-Fi and cellular networks in enterprise, residential, and public Wi-Fi deployments. In particular, the document explores the benefits of creating a standardized interface between Wi-Fi and cellular networks to improve end-to-end network performance, enhance the user experience, and ultimately empower mobile and Wi-Fi operators to create new business opportunities using converged technologies.
 
"Mobile and Wi-Fi operators, equipment manufacturers, and end users will greatly benefit from the continued convergence of Wi-Fi and cellular networks, especially with the launch of Wi-Fi 6 later this year and the ongoing development of 5G networks," says Tiago Rodrigues, General Manager,