Millimeter wave is imperative to unleash the full potential of 5G!

As my country's 5G network construction scale advances and 5G network coverage gradually improves, 5G is gradually moving towards the second half - application implementation is replacing base station deployment as the new protagonist. In the second half, in order to unleash the full potential of 5G and empower more vertical industries, millimeter waves are considered indispensable.

5G millimeter waves have many outstanding advantages, such as large frequency bandwidth capacity, easy combination with beamforming, and ultra-low latency, which are conducive to promoting the development of industries such as industrial Internet, AR/VR, cloud gaming, and real-time computing. At the same time, millimeter waves can support deployment in densely populated areas, perform high-precision positioning, and have high equipment integration, which will be conducive to promoting the miniaturization of base stations and terminals.

Currently, millimeter wave has been commercialized worldwide and has a mature industrial chain, which can provide high-capacity and low-latency indoor and outdoor hotspot coverage for consumer, enterprise and industrial scenarios. In my country, relevant units and manufacturers have been conducting 5G millimeter wave trials for more than three years, and all work has progressed smoothly, which has laid the foundation for the full application of millimeter wave in the Chinese market in the future.

In general, my country has achieved success in the first half of 5G. In the second half, we should build on our success and advance millimeter wave spectrum planning as quickly as possible and make early arrangements. Building on the success of 5G deployment, we should lay a solid foundation for the next stage of stable development of 5G.

5G licensing three years ago: China has made remarkable achievements

In the 5G era, global mobile communications are developing at an accelerated pace. Data shows that more than 250 operators around the world have deployed 5G commercial networks, more than 280 operators are investing in the deployment of 5G technology, the number of global 5G connections will exceed 1 billion next year, and 1,275 5G terminals have been released or are being designed.

On June 6, 2019, my country's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology officially issued 5G commercial licenses to China Telecom, China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Broadcasting Corporation. After three years of continuous development, whether it is the scale of 5G networks or the number of 5G users; whether it is the richness of services or the number of vertical applications; whether it is SA independent networking or the world's first 5G patent, China has always been leading the development of 5G in the world.

It is reported that my country has built nearly 1.6 million 5G base stations, becoming the first country in the world to build a 5G network on a large scale based on an independent networking model.

As 5G network construction continues to make breakthroughs, my country's voice in 5G technology has also increased. According to the "Global 5G Patent Activity Report (2022)" released by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, as of December 31, 2021, there were more than 64,900 5G standard essential patents declared worldwide.

The value of 5G lies in its application. To further promote the implementation of 5G applications, in July 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and ten other ministries jointly issued the "5G Application "Sailing" Action Plan (2021-2023)", which clarified the development direction of 5G applications in key industries in my country in the next three years and systematically proposed the development strategy of 5G integrated applications. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has formulated the "5G+Industrial Internet" 512 Project Promotion Plan in the industrial field; in terms of medical care and education, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Health Commission and the Ministry of Education jointly organized 5G+smart medical care and 5G+smart education application pilot projects.

Millimeter wave is essential for the second half of the game

Under the premise that infrastructure is gradually improved, my country is about to enter the "deep water zone" of 5G applications, especially the layout of vertical industry applications for the B-end market. This has become a general consensus in the industry.

There are bound to be many challenges in the large-scale application of 5G. At the "Big Names Discussing the Dao" online forum of the 5G "Three Lives and All Things" series hosted by C114, Wang Zhiqin, deputy director of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, pointed out that 5G technical capabilities need to be further improved, and features such as uplink data rate, positioning, and low latency are difficult to meet the needs of industrial sites. Network slicing and flexible network adaptation need to be optimized.

Ma Hongbing, general manager of China Unicom's Technology Innovation Department, also said that XR has set off a digital torrent. The industry predicts that there will be about 100 million XR connections worldwide in 2025 and about 1 billion in 2030. In order to ensure business needs and provide a better user experience, the capacity of 5G networks must also move from the current 500Mpbs/user benchmark to Gpbs/user benchmark. Ultra-large-scale MIMO technology and larger bandwidth spectrum are needed to support this ultimate experience demand.

Wang Zhiqin stressed: "The goal of large-scale 5G applications is not only the prosperity and innovation of ICT itself, but also to achieve the overall development of digitalization in my country and provide innovative impetus and foundation for thousands of industries. my country must address the above challenges, unleash the true potential of 5G, and promote high-quality social and economic development."

It is precisely because more and more vertical industry applications have more extreme requirements for network performance and latency that millimeter wave technology has gradually received more attention. On the one hand, millimeter wave spectrum resources are more abundant and bandwidth is larger (400-800M or even larger bandwidth resources), which can bring greater network capacity, higher single-user peak rate, and better service experience; on the other hand, 5G aims to enable the digital transformation of thousands of industries. Industry applications require extreme speed, capacity and latency, which cannot be separated from the support of millimeter wave technology and related products. For example, in the industrial field, "5G millimeter wave + smart factory" can provide industrial robots with fiber-level bandwidth and latency. Industrial robots can quickly redeploy production lines without adjusting network wiring.

Today, many countries around the world are carrying out 5G millimeter wave-based deployments. GSA data shows that as of August 2021, more than 160 operators around the world have invested in 5G millimeter wave technology, and 84 terminal devices support 5G millimeter wave. GSMA predicts that there will be more than 100 smartphones released in 2021 that support millimeter wave technology, nearly 10 times the number in 2020, and more than 50 FWA CPEs devices that support millimeter wave. In China, the application of millimeter wave is considered to have unique advantages because China has a relatively high population density. Airports, subway stations, stadiums and other crowded places are all very suitable application scenarios for millimeter wave.

The 5G spectrum strategies of different countries or regions are tailored to local conditions. There is no "binary opposition" between millimeter wave and Sub-6GHz. At present, my country has taken the lead in successfully commercializing the 5G network in the Sub-6GHz frequency band, and 5G millimeter wave has also been successfully tested under the guidance of the IMT-2020 (5G) Promotion Group. The industry expects the ultimate capabilities brought by millimeter waves to fully empower the subsequent development of 5G and benefit thousands of industries.

In addition, the development of millimeter waves is also an indispensable part of the evolution of communication technology towards full-band applications, including the evolution towards 6G in the future. The deployment of millimeter wave networks will help further enhance my country's 5G network capabilities, enable more industry applications, and accumulate experience and cultivate industries for the evolution of 6G technology.

Accumulating strength to move forward: the millimeter wave industry chain is becoming increasingly mature

From 1G to 5G, millimeter wave technology was first used in wireless communications and 3GPP. But just as a coin has two sides, the commercial use of millimeter wave does face many challenges. However, with the joint promotion of the upstream and downstream of the industry chain, some of the traditional millimeter wave technology bottlenecks have been broken through through the joint efforts of the industry.

Although my country started late in deploying 5G millimeter waves, it has developed rapidly. In terms of policy, the "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of the Information and Communications Industry" issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in 2021 pointed out that a 5G network system with coordinated development of multiple frequency bands will be gradually built, and 5G millimeter wave network construction will be carried out in a timely manner. In the future, China will increase investment and research and development in millimeter wave technology, further tap the potential of millimeter waves, and seek long-term development for 5G.

At the same time, my country has made continuous breakthroughs in the field of 5G millimeter wave. At the end of last year, ZTE announced the full function and field performance test of 5G millimeter wave base stations, with a single-user peak rate exceeding 8.3Gbps. On-site measurements showed that the single-user downlink peak rate under high-low frequency dual connection (NR-DC) exceeded 8.3Gbps, and the cell downlink peak rate under multi-user conditions exceeded 14.3Gbps.

Compared with low-frequency and medium-frequency, high-frequency millimeter wave antenna RF integrated design is one of the key points of 5G millimeter wave base station research. CITIC Mobile is conducting cooperative research with various parties in the industry and has made important progress in the antenna unit and array design, chip design, and integrated integration of 5G millimeter wave base stations. At the same time, CITIC Mobile is also actively cooperating with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, operators and other industry parties to conduct 5G millimeter wave base station testing to prepare for the future commercial use of 5G millimeter wave in my country.

As the main force in building a digital China, operators are also actively increasing their investment in millimeter wave related technologies, and have carried out corresponding work in 5G millimeter wave standard pre-research, key technology testing, and empowering thousands of industries.

More importantly, the world's leading communications companies and research institutions have made new progress in the field of 5G millimeter wave recently, which will further accelerate the arrival of my country's 5G millimeter wave commercial era. It is reported that last year, GSMA launched the global "Millimeter Wave 5G Accelerator" program. China Unicom, NTT Docomo, Telstra, Telecom Italia, Verizon, Ericsson and Qualcomm participated in it. GSMA introduced that the "Millimeter Wave 5G Accelerator" program will enable relevant companies to share the latest information/insights, best practices and use cases of millimeter wave 5G globally to "educate and inspire stakeholders". The main goal of the project is to emphasize that "millimeter wave will play an indispensable role in unlocking the full potential of 5G."

In the field of underlying chips, on May 11, Qualcomm released the latest Snapdragon X70 baseband, which can already achieve 5G millimeter wave independent networking connection with a maximum rate of 8.3Gbps. MediaTek also recently released its first mobile platform that supports 5G millimeter wave - Dimensity 1050. The chip supports both millimeter wave and Sub-6GHz full-band networks, providing high-speed and wide-coverage 5G connections.

As the scale of 5G millimeter wave solutions continues to expand and the market matures, 5G millimeter wave will achieve more extensive impact and benefits. Especially driven by the "5G Application "Sailing" Action Plan (2021-2023)", China will usher in the flourishing and large-scale mature development of 5G in consumer and industry applications.