Facebook first unveiled its Terragraph gigabit Wi-Fi initiative in 2016, and now the project has its first major industry partner and a planned timeline for trials.
Terragraph is designed as a cost-effective alternative to fibre broadband by using 60 GHz millimetre-wave wireless. The system leverages 802.11ad and emerging 802.11ay technologies to deliver multi-gigabit wireless links across urban areas.
Yael Maguire, Vice President of Connectivity at Facebook, says:
“We’re excited to work with Qualcomm Technologies to advance the adoption of pre-802.11ay and 802.11ad 60GHz technologies and build a robust ecosystem of interoperable solutions based on Terragraph. With Terragraph, our goal is to enable people living in urban areas to access high-quality connectivity that can help create new opportunities and strengthen communities.”
The main advantage of Terragraph is faster, lower-cost deployment compared with laying fibre, since it avoids disruptive street excavation and cable pulls. Instead, the approach uses a dense mesh of 60 GHz wireless nodes distributed through neighbourhoods to provide high-capacity backhaul.
Final delivery into homes would use Ethernet to deliver multi-gigabit speeds, targeting two-digit gigabit bandwidth — broadly in the 20–30 Gbps range for link capacity — to meet heavy urban demand.
(Image Credit: Facebook)
The announcement that Qualcomm is collaborating on Terragraph marks the first significant commercial partner for Facebook’s initiative.
Irvind Ghai, Vice President of Product Management at Qualcomm Atheros, adds:
“Our collaboration with Facebook will bring advanced 11ad and pre-11ay technologies to market, increasing broadband penetration and enabling operators to reduce their capex for last-mile access. Terragraph cloud controller and TDMA architecture — coupled with Qualcomm Technologies’ solutions offering 10 Gbps link rates, low power consumption, and early interference mitigation techniques — will help make gigabit connectivity a reality.”
Qualcomm plans to integrate its QCA6438 and QCA6428 pre-802.11ay chipsets with Facebook’s Terragraph platform. This cooperation aims to accelerate the production of 60 GHz mmWave equipment that operates in unlicensed spectrum and provides Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) to deliver high-speed broadband in dense urban environments.
Both companies expect to begin field trials of the combined solution in mid-2019, testing performance, interoperability, and deployment workflows in real-world urban settings.
Terragraph addresses several challenges faced by urban broadband deployment: it reduces the time and cost of infrastructure rollout, limits street-level disruption, and scales capacity by placing many short-range, high-throughput nodes where demand is highest. The use of a cloud-based controller and TDMA-style scheduling helps coordinate the network to mitigate interference and improve reliability, while modern 60 GHz silicon aims to balance throughput and power efficiency.
Successful trials could open a path for operators and equipment manufacturers to adopt Terragraph-based products, expanding fixed wireless options where fibre installation is impractical or prohibitively expensive. That could broaden high-speed Internet access in cities and support applications requiring consistent, high-capacity connections.
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