Qualcomm and Facebook today announced they are working together to deliver high-speed internet connectivity with Facebook's Terragraph technology through the development of a multi-node wireless system based on 60GHz technology.

Working with operators and manufacturers, this terrestrial connectivity system aims to improve the speed, efficiency and quality of internet connectivity around the world at only a fraction of the cost of fiber deployments. Qualcomm Technologies will integrate its QCA6438 and QCA6428 family of pre-802.11ay chipsets with Facebook's Terragraph technology. This effort will help enable manufacturers to build 60GHz mmWave solutions using the unlicensed 60GHz spectrum and provide Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) to offer consumers in urban areas access to high-speed broadband connections.

The companies expect to begin trials of the integrated solution mid-2019.

Facebook's Terragraph technology supports broadband connectivity through a network based on millimeter-wave wireless backhaul. It is based on the pre-802.11ay standard with enhancements provided by the Qualcomm Technologies' chipset and the integrated software between Facebook and Qualcomm Technologies to support efficient outdoor operation and avoid interference in dense environments. Specifically, Qualcomm Technologies has optimized its solution for outdoor backhaul by introducing a number of enhancements such as TDMA-based protocol, time synchronized nodes, channel bonding and massive antenna array among others, to overcome large obstacles in dense urban environments, deliver high-capacity coverage, and the potential to reduce costs and time to market.

Facebook claims that Terragraph is faster to deploy than any wireline service because it does not require securing costly Right of Way permissions. Unlike cellular bands requiring special cell-towers, Terragraph's small nodes are designed to leverage pre-existing street furniture and can be mounted on poles or buildings.

Terragraph can also extend fiber wirelessly throughout a city and uniformly deliver Gbps speeds in difficult-to-reach neighborhoods.