How far is the road to commercialization of 5G

At the World Mobile Congress held in Shanghai recently, the world's first 5G low-frequency prototype manufactured in China was unveiled, with a mobile network speed of up to 100 times that of 4G. At the end of June, the International Telecommunication Union officially released a timetable for the development of 5G, and the formulation of 5G standards will be completed by 2020. At the same time, the Telecommunications Research Institute of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently released white papers on "5G Wireless Technology Architecture" and "5G Network Technology Architecture", which basically determined the 5G technology roadmap. What changes will 5G bring to our lives? From concept to practice, what are the problems that need to be solved Not just 'fast' 3G network speed is a breeze, 4G network speed is a strong wind, and 5G network speed is like a tornado. When it comes to the fast transmission speed of 5G networks, some industry insiders describe it as follows. According to the definition of the International Telecommunication Union, the peak speed of 5G networks in the future will reach at least 20Gbps, which means that users can download an ultra high definition movie in just a few seconds. According to the definition of 5G network released by ZTE, the data traffic per unit area of 5G network will be 1000 times that of 4G network, and the user access speed will be increased by 10-100 times, almost on par with fiber optic network. 5G can establish connections for over one million devices within a range of one square kilometer. 5G will be the productivity of the future information society, "said Hu Houkun, Vice Chairman and rotating CEO of Huawei. In the 5G era, many industries such as gaming, education, virtual design, healthcare, and even art will undergo earth shaking changes. With the realization of high internet speed, high capacity, and low latency, humanity will enter an era of intelligent "Internet of Things". The current terminals are mainly mobile phones, and there will be many forms in the future, "said Yang Hua, Secretary General of the TD Industry Alliance. In the 5G era, household appliances and transportation vehicles may become terminals. The sharp increase in the number of terminals and connections will bring new opportunities for communication equipment manufacturers and traditional telecommunications operators. But ZTE's chief scientist admitted to Jiying that the Internet of Things is a long-term vision, and 5G is only the first step towards the Internet of Things. It cannot completely solve the connectivity problem of everything, but will gradually achieve connectivity according to different scenarios and needs. Moving towards global interconnectivity According to the 5G development schedule released by the International Telecommunication Union, by the end of 2017, preparations will be made to solicit candidate technologies and develop technology evaluation methods; By 2020, complete technology evaluation, select key technologies, and develop standards. In the era of 3G and 4G, there are 2-3 international standards. In the view of Cao Shumin, Director of the Telecommunications Research Institute of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, 5G aims to achieve global interconnectivity and comprehensive integration, and countries around the world have reached a consensus to jointly develop globally unified technical standards. However, Yang Hua reminds that for commercial applications, the formation of globally unified technical standards is undoubtedly a huge benefit. However, due to technological differences among different countries and the game of interests between nations, it remains to be seen whether standard disputes can be truly avoided. As early as 2013, China officially launched the IMT-2020 (5G) Promotion Group, consisting of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Science and Technology, to jointly promote the development of international 5G standards. The Promotion Group has recently released a white paper on 5G technology, which is the first time that China has comprehensively researched and vigorously promoted it from the demand stage, changing its passive position in the 3G and 4G era. China is one of the countries that conducted research on 5G technology earlier. Due to its late start, there is still a certain gap in basic technology compared to developed countries. Yang Hua said in an interview that in order to have more say in the formulation of 5G standards, China's industry still needs to strengthen collaboration, break through core technologies, and enhance technical cooperation with other countries. How to take the path of commercialization Not only is the national level promoting 5G technology research, but more and more operators and equipment manufacturers in China are laying out 5G network construction. Huawei stated that it will be the first to launch 5G trial commercial networks with its partners in 2018; ZTE has proposed the concept of Pre5G, which can directly apply some of the technologies in 5G to 4G; China Telecom showcased its car networking solution at the World Mobile Congress. Yang Hua introduced that 1G to 4G networks mainly meet the needs of mobile communication and are traditional cellular networks; In the 5G era, people and things, as well as things and things, will be connected through networks. To meet the significant growth in the number of connections, 5G networks will be flat and low latency, requiring the integration of multiple technologies. 5G application scenarios will be expanded from mobile Internet to Internet of Things. Hu Houkun stated that 5G networks will no longer be simple communication networks, but should become industry shared infrastructure. The communication industry must abandon traditional "chimney style" innovation and accelerate cross industry cooperation to create conditions for interconnectivity. In addition, 5G will bring a lot of innovative business models, which poses new challenges for government regulation. Experts suggest that government regulatory agencies should strengthen the construction of 5G infrastructure like they do with transportation, electricity, and other infrastructure, and timely introduce relevant supporting policies to provide a favorable social environment for 5G commercialization.