One of the key 5G challenges will be finding backhaul technologies which can deliver the capacity required by the new multi-gigabit RANs, while reaching far smaller cells in dense areas of the network, and remaining affordable to deploy or lease. Fiber will be ideal for most base stations, and densification is seen as a significant opportunity for cablecos and fiber-to-the-premise deployers to squeeze another revenue stream out fo their wholesale or retail connections. There are some non-fiber technologies, too, which will have a role to reach very small cells or to reduce cost – enhanced copper standards like next generation G.fast has been trialled by BT and others, for instance; while high capacity millimeter wave spectrum may give wireless backhaul…