my country's 5G enters a substantial acceleration phase and is ready for commercial use

It is already March 2018, and the large-scale commercial use of 5G is just around the corner. In 2017, the Release R14 standard work for the evolution of 4G/LTE to the next generation of mobile communications has come to an end. In the second half of 2017, 3GPP's standardization work was mainly focused on the first version of the 5G NR (New Radio) core standard for NSA (Non-Standalone Networking). In December 2017, the standard was officially frozen, and the 5G standard and industry process entered a substantial acceleration stage.

4G industry accelerates development, my country's 4G penetration rate reaches 70%, far exceeding developed countries

Recently, the TD Industry Alliance released the "2017-2018 Global 4G/5G Industry and Market Development Report", which comprehensively summarizes the latest industry dynamics and technology trend forecasts for the development of the 4G and 5G industries in 2017. In 2017, the 4G industry accelerated its development. With the joint efforts of global operators and other industry chain companies, the global 4G network and application development became more complete and rapid. The number of global 4G users reached a new high, the 4G terminal forms became more diverse, and the chip technology was upgraded at an accelerated pace. The status of Chinese terminal brands has been gradually improved, and they have occupied a certain leading position in the international market.

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While 5G is being deployed at a pace, the commercial development of 4G in China is also steady and steady. According to data released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the penetration rate of fixed broadband users in my country reached 72.5% in 2017, achieving the national "13th Five-Year Plan" target ahead of schedule. Among them, fiber broadband users reached 290 million, accounting for more than 83% of fixed broadband users, and users with high-speed fixed broadband access of more than 50M accounted for 70%; 4G users were nearly 1 billion, with a penetration rate of 70%, exceeding the average level of developed countries.

It is understood that in 2017, the three major domestic operators continued to accelerate the construction of optical fiber networks, improve the depth of 4G network coverage, and continuously eliminate coverage blind spots. The quality of mobile network services and coverage continued to improve. In 2017, the country's net increase in mobile communication base stations was 593,000, and the total number reached 6.19 million, which is three times that of 2012. Among them, the net increase of 4G base stations was 652,000, and the total number reached 3.28 million.

China's 5G technology research and development enters the third stage, and 5G commercialization is ready to go

The 2017-2018 Global 4G/5G Industry and Market Development Report points out that in 2017, the Release R14 standard work for the evolution of 4G/LTE to the next generation of mobile communications has come to an end. In the second half of 2017, 3GPP's standardization work was mainly focused on the first version of the 5G NR (New Radio) core standard for NSA (Non-Standalone Networking). In December 2017, the standard was officially frozen, and the 5G standard and industry process entered a substantial acceleration stage. 5G commercialization is ready to go.

Regarding the development of 5G, Zhang Feng, chief engineer of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, mentioned that in January 2018, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology held a third-phase specification release conference and issued "textbooks" and "examination outlines" to participating companies, which marked that the 5G R&D test has officially entered the third phase, which will promote 5G system equipment to basically reach the pre-commercial level and lay a good foundation for subsequent 5G scale tests and mobile phone network access testing. 2018 is a key year for 5G standard determination and commercial product development. Relying on the third phase of 5G technology R&D tests, it will focus on the simultaneous development of the three tasks of "standards, R&D and testing".

In fact, in China, in order to vigorously promote the development of 5G, telecom operators play an active role in 5G key technologies, network integration and network architecture, and are deeply involved in the formulation of 5G standards. For example, China Telecom, from the perspective of network evolution and user perception, innovatively proposed the research proposal of "4G and 5G interoperability based on application perception" in the International Standards Organization, hoping to promote the effective integration of 4G and 5G and business model innovation. At the just-concluded 3GPP SA2#126 meeting, the proposal for the research project "4G and 5G interoperability based on application perception" led by China Telecom was approved, and China Telecom served as the only project reporter.

The Forward-looking Industry Research Institute pointed out that globally, 5G will be officially commercialized in 2020, while the domestic plan is about one year ahead of schedule: China Mobile has publicly stated that it plans to fully launch 5G services in 2019. On the other hand, with the acceleration of 5G progress, the investment in 5G base stations has also accelerated. Considering that 5G base stations will greatly increase the use of RF devices and antennas, this will also bring new development opportunities to the industry chain.