Experts at the 5G Evolution Summit discussed: How to promote the sustainable development of 5G?

Currently, 5G has been commercialized on a global scale, promoting the digital transformation of the industry. However, we realize that in the next decade, in order to support the transition from the Internet of Everything to the Intelligent Internet of Everything, 5G technology needs to continue to evolve and enhance.

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For example, 5G application scenarios need to be expanded to meet more diverse and complex full-scenario connection needs; define more new 5G capabilities, such as uplink throughput, low-latency and high-speed communication, high-precision positioning, etc., to meet the ever-increasing performance requirements; continue to enhance the commercial capabilities of 5G SA, MEC, cloud-native 5G core network, and 5G service enabling platform to meet the differentiated needs of industry applications.

At the "5G Advanced Summit" during the "2021 Mobile World Congress Shanghai", experts and business representatives from all walks of life across the country had an in-depth discussion on the vision and technical direction of 5G evolution, and called on all parties in the industry to jointly define 5G evolution and build a future for 5G sustainable development.

Alex Sinclair, CTO of GSMA, said in his speech: "During the epidemic, we have seen the rapid development of 5G, especially China has taken the lead. As the mainstream technology in the next 8-10 years, 5G will continue to create huge value for the entire industry. We hope that everyone can reach a consensus on the 5G vision for 2025 and think about how to promote the realization of the 5G vision and help 5G's sustainable evolution."

Accelerate 5G application development and innovate 5G industry ecosystem

As we all know, 5G has been commercially available for more than a year. Whether it is the number of sites, the number of users, or the speed of its commercial scale development, it is unprecedented compared with the same period of 4G commercialization. However, at present, 5G consumer applications are still in the 4G mode, and the application situation for industry has not yet been opened. Therefore, the 5G application ecosystem needs innovation to keep up with the pace of network deployment and the number of users.

"5G has the advantages of ultra-wideband, low latency, high reliability, wide coverage and large connections, but it cannot be suitable only for a small number of high-end users. 5G must also have better cost-effectiveness than 4G in conventional application areas and provide users with a better experience." Wu Hequan pointed out that currently, the industry is developing more practical technologies and forming standards to meet the needs of network deployment and application scenarios. 5G will definitely bring new services that we cannot even imagine now.

In Wu Hequan's view, 5G has a broad prospect of seamlessly integrating the new generation of information technology applications, but the key applications of 5G are still high-brow, and the pace of 5G application development must be further aligned with key performance. "5G needs to continue to innovate, including innovation in the application ecosystem, innovation and standardization of practical technologies, so as to keep up with the development of network deployment and the number of users, and stimulate the business ecosystem with the network ecosystem."

"In order to improve the 5G industry ecosystem, in addition to improving the external environment in terms of base station site selection, electricity subsidies, industrial chain maturity, content production, and spectrum supply, continuous technological innovation is also needed. For example, innovating the development model of high-definition video content and XR programs, and developing lightweight new air interface equipment to expand application scenarios," said Wu Hequan.

Talking about the driving force behind the continued evolution of 5G, Dr. Tong Wen, Huawei Fellow and Wireless CTO, analyzed that the continuous upgrading of personal experience and the gradual enrichment of IoT scenarios have, on the one hand, put forward higher requirements on the existing capabilities of 5G, and on the other hand, required us to continuously explore new scenarios such as uplink ultra-wideband, real-time broadband interaction, and communication convergence perception, open up new business opportunities, and maximize the commercial value of the 100 billion IoT.

Promote 5G technology evolution and create sustainable development of 5G

Huang Yuhong, deputy director of China Mobile Research Institute, shared China Mobile's thoughts on achieving sustainable development through 5G evolution. According to Huang Yuhong, China Mobile has built the world's largest 5G SA network. After more than a year of hard work, China Mobile has initially achieved the goals of wide coverage, advanced technology, excellent performance, efficient resources, and customizable networks.

In his speech, Huang Yuhong mainly introduced China Mobile's measures to promote continuous innovation in 5G from five aspects, reflecting China Mobile's determination to create a sustainable future for 5G. First, promote the popularization of terminals and accelerate the promotion of 5G services to the public. Second, go deep into typical production scenarios and accelerate the integration of 5G into thousands of industries. Third, facing the future, ultra-high-definition and immersive services in the 2C public customer market will become more popular. Fourth, facing the future, the 2B industry market has more differentiated demands for 5G. Fifth, new demands for industry applications and new needs for sustainable development will promote continuous innovation in 5G.

At the same time, China Mobile has proposed the concept of intelligent 5G technology to meet the needs of diversified services and sustainable development. According to reports, intelligent 5G can help operators reduce costs and strengthen capabilities by achieving "addition" of performance, "addition" of capabilities, "reduction" of costs, and "reduction" of complexity, continuously meet the business development needs of thousands of industries and mass customers, eliminate the digital divide, and promote the development of the digital economy.

Huang Yuhong also gave suggestions on the direction of the speech on 5G wireless technology. First, build an intelligent and efficient wireless network and focus on improving the efficiency of 5G networks; second, continue to enhance the capabilities of eMBB, mMTC, and URLLC to continuously improve the performance of 5G networks; third, maximize spectrum efficiency technology and reconstruct the Sub100GHz spectrum usage model; fourth, enable new industries and new applications with technology to build new capabilities such as high-precision positioning and sensory communications to open up new business space.