Era of 5G
5G, 1,000 times faster than Long Term Evolution (LTE), will be commercialized by the year 2020.
The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP) announced on December 17 that it laid out the “Strategy to Implement 5G Mobile Communications,” which includes starting the world’s first commercialized 5G services in 2020.
With the aim of acquiring a 20 percent share of the mobile telecommunications equipment market and achieving a leading status in international standard patent competitiveness, the MSIP will commercialize 5G services first in the world in 2020 by releasing pre-5G technology by 2015 and conducting a trial service in 2018.
To realize the vision, goal, and realization of 5G services based on the Strategy to Implement 5G Mobile Communications, the MSIP will strengthen research and development (R&D) and international cooperation for patent standardization by concentrating its capabilities centered on the 5G Forum, and forming a nationwide task force to drive strategic standardization.
The 5G Forum was established this May with SK Telecom, KT, LG U+, Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, and Ericsson joining as members.
5G is a next-generation technology of high-speed wireless communications that is 1000 times faster than LTE. Competition in technology development is expected to heat up in the next several years, as key players of wireless telephony will jockey for position.
Last January, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) started an official discussion on the future vision of 5G and plans to map out its frequency allocation. The EU also announced plans to invest 50 million euros (US$68.3 million) with the aim of commercializing 5G by 2020.
Also in May, Samsung successfully developed and tested the world’s first technology to transmit greater than 1Gbps of data at a maximum distance of 2km. Japan’s NTT DoCoMo unveiled its own report on 5G technology with a 10ghz frequency bandwidth.
In addition, other players, such as Sweden’s Ericsson and China’s Huawei, are announcing their R&D results and achievements with 5G technology, as well.