What’s next after the first 5G standard is released?

On June 14, Beijing time, the International Mobile Communications Standardization Organization 3GPP officially approved the fifth-generation mobile communication (5G) NR standard SA (Standalone, independent networking) solution, which also marks the official release of the first 5G international standard.

The formulation of the 5G standard will unify the complex systems in different regions of the world, break down barriers, and form a global standard for network standards. In the process of promoting this standard, China also plays a vital role.

[[234474]]

China plays an important role in 5G standards

According to the plan released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, my country's 5G bearer band is the mid-frequency of Sub6GHz, which is covered by this standard. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China issued a notice, officially announcing the planning of 3300-3600MHz and 4800-5000HMz bands as the working frequency bands of 5G systems, of which the 3300-3400MHz band is limited to indoor use in principle.

According to the 3GPP plan, 5G standards are divided into two types: NSA and SA. Among them, 5GNSA networking is a transitional solution, which mainly aims to increase the bandwidth in hot spots. It has no independent signaling plane and relies on 4G base stations and core networks. The progress of standard formulation is relatively fast.

Since China has accumulated enough experience in standard construction in the 3G and 4G eras, it has already invested huge amounts of money to lay the foundation for leading in the 5G era. The advantage of entering the market early is that more 5G technical standards can be mastered as early as possible. Therefore, in several 3GPP meetings, many leading concepts proposed by China have also been recognized by global peers. Currently, there are more than 30 Chinese people holding key positions in standard organizations, with more than 23% of voting rights, 30% of the number of manuscripts, and 40% of the lead projects.

How to implement the 5G standard after it is proposed?

After the first 5G standard was proposed, the next step is to consider how to implement the standard. 5G is characterized by high speed and a large number of links, and 5G has lower latency than today's networks. These major changes will become the focus of future commercial implementation, and the high speed and low latency characteristics may change the current pattern of wired broadband.

In addition, 5G has another significant feature, that is, it no longer distinguishes network standards. The 2G network used to have CDMA, GSM, etc., and 3G developed WCDMA, TD-SCDMA, CDMA2000D and other standards. 4G networks also have TD-LTE and FDD-LTE. However, 5G only has one network standard, hybrid DD, which allows users to switch their operators freely.

When consumers buy mobile phones, they will no longer consider the operator factor, and only need to choose mobile phones that support the 5G standard, which is undoubtedly more convenient for consumers. However, for operators, the unification of 5G network standards will force them to establish more advantages in other areas to ensure that they will not be abandoned by consumers in the 5G era.

5G is in urgent need of the birth of "killer app"

In addition to changes at the operator level, 5G-based application upgrades are also a key point. How to transform applications based on 5G to achieve profitability will become another difficult problem for the future development of 5G. After all, in addition to the characteristics of fast speed, low latency, and a large number of connections, other features of 5G are still to be explored.

At present, people's application of 5G is generally limited to video, cloud, Internet of Things and other fields, but these fields alone are not enough. 5G still needs to explore more application business implementation. Relying solely on these existing applications is not enough to support the expensive construction investment of 5G.

Therefore, after the standard is released, the first challenge facing 5G in commercialization is how to create a "killer" level service. This key application can better help promote 5G and make 5G development sustainable. Even if we put aside these 5G scenarios, since the 5G core network is based on a microservice architecture, 5G must achieve flexible support for diversified business needs through features such as network slicing and mobile edge computing.

5G development in overseas markets is also rapid

Not only in China, but also in the face of the "aggressive" 5G, some foreign countries have reacted more strongly than in China. Recently, a major restructuring event occurred in the US telecommunications market. T-Mobile, ranked third, and Sprint, ranked fourth, announced a merger and stated that they would invest $40 billion to build a 5G network.

According to US media reports, the reason why T-Mobile and Sprint's merger negotiations were successful again was because of some new changes in the US telecommunications market. When facing 5G networks, AT&T, the largest operator in the United States, and Verizon, the second largest operator, both announced ambitious 5G construction plans.

Therefore, facing companies that are stronger than themselves and have invested more in 5G than themselves, T-Mobile and Sprint realized that if they do not make changes, it will become increasingly difficult for them to survive in the future 5G landscape. The most obvious change is that after T-Mobile released innovative packages (including unlimited communication packages and large-scale reductions in rates, etc.), AT&T and Verizon followed suit, which directly led to a gradual decline in rates in the US telecommunications market and an increase in consumer welfare. The resulting impact is that the promotion of 5G in the United States will be smoother.

summary

The arrival of 5G will inevitably have a profound impact on the fields of smartphones, wearable devices, and smart factories. How to give full play to the inherent advantages of 5G, reduce construction costs, improve network construction efficiency, and maximize network investment and value will also be the next step to be implemented.

The best way to promote 5G networks is to get consumers to accept and use 5G. Increasing speed and reducing fees is a good option, but this requires operators to implement this strategy more thoroughly and let consumers feel the real benefits, which will truly help promote 5G.