Market Prospects of Optical Modules Under the Scale of 5G Base Stations

Optical communication has become the mainstream choice for communication network construction. Optical communication meets the needs of modern communication due to its high speed, and has also become the mainstream choice in network construction.

1. Mobile communication upgrade, 5G infrastructure becomes the highlight of telecom optical modules

Communication upgrade realizes different functions. Mobile communication technology is innovated approximately every 10 years. From the birth of the first generation of technology to the construction and promotion of the fifth generation of technology today, communication has evolved from voice transmission to mobile Internet and then into the era of the Internet of Everything. Each generation of communication technology has its own characteristics, and has different degrees of improvement in performance compared with the previous generation of technology, creating a better experience for users and providing soil for innovation in downstream applications.

2. The explosion of mobile traffic has prompted the upgrade of the bearer network

The upgrade of telecom optical modules is imperative. Since 5G is the era of the Internet of Everything, enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable and low-latency connection (uRLLC) and massive machine type communications (eMTC) are the three major application scenarios of 5G. Mobile data will show a trend of large volume and variety, which will put forward new requirements for data transmission. Therefore, the explosion of mobile data will impact the bearer network, and the transmission efficiency of the bearer network needs to be improved to meet the data transmission needs. As one of the more important links in the optical communication network, the performance of the optical module has a certain balance effect on the network efficiency. Compared with 4G communication, 5G has improved to varying degrees in terms of latency, rate and connection volume. With the increase in data volume, the requirements for the performance of optical modules have increased, and the demand for high-performance optical modules will gradually increase.

3. 5G communication characteristics build an incremental market

3.1 The 5G spectrum determines that the number of its base stations will increase. 

For 5G network coverage, Sub6G band or millimeter wave can be used. Although the 5G spectrum allocated by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of my country to the three major operators is within the Sub6G band, since most of the spectrum is in the high-frequency part, there are certain requirements for the density of base stations. From the knowledge of physics, we know that when the wave speed is constant, the higher the frequency, the shorter the wavelength. 5G communication is based on the Sub6G high frequency band, and the advantages formed by this are large bandwidth and high transmission rate, but short propagation distance. Since the spectrum used by 5G communication is higher than that of 4G communication, there will be more 5G base stations than 4G base stations.

3.2 5G networking will stimulate the demand for optical modules.

The increase in the number of base stations means that the demand for optical communication is rising, and the demand for optical modules, as an indispensable part of optical communication, will also be amplified. In addition, the use of optical modules for 5G single base stations based on different solutions will continue to increase. From the perspective of base station construction, the demand for optical modules will be released as the 5G networking process advances. The increase in optical modules formed by the change in architecture is a process from scratch. It is expected that after the downstream applications have a demand for the network environment, the demand for optical modules will gradually emerge.