Speed ​​up 5G trials! The three major operators are all full of enthusiasm

The third-phase specification release conference held in January this year issued "textbooks" and "examination outlines" to participating companies, marking that the R&D test has officially entered the third phase and 5G is getting closer.

Zhang Feng, chief engineer of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office on January 30 that 2018 is a critical year for the determination of 5G standards and the development of commercial products. China will rely on the third phase of 5G technology research and development trials and focus on the simultaneous development of the three tasks of "standards, research and development and trials."

As 5G commercialization is approaching, the three major operators have also accelerated 5G planning and testing, and have stated that it will be officially commercialized around 2020.

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China Mobile: 500 sites will be planned in 5 major cities

Regarding China Mobile's current 5G planning, Huang Yuhong, deputy director of China Mobile Research Institute, said earlier that China Mobile will actively participate in the third phase of 5G technology research and development testing in the first quarter of 2018 and build a large-scale test network. In the third quarter of 2018, when the R15 standard is frozen, it will lead a large-scale 5G trial in five major cities, apply key technologies and verify commercial feasibility, and start building a business demonstration network.

In addition, in Q1 2019, it started to lead business demonstrations in 12 cities; in Q2 2019, it launched commercial terminal chips and carried out verification for commercial construction and operation.

At present, China Mobile will coordinate large-scale trials and business demonstration planning to effectively connect network preparation and business applications.

In the scale test, China Mobile will work with seven joint units to build 500 stations in five major cities and form 26 types of 5G business scenarios. In the business demonstration of the National Development and Reform Commission, China Mobile will work with more than 20 cooperative units to conduct business demonstrations in 12 cities and plan 500 stations.

China Telecom: Plans to launch medium-scale 5G field experiments

As of December last year, China Telecom opened a 5G base station in Lanzhou. So far, China Telecom has launched 5G pilot projects in six cities including Xiongan, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Suzhou, Chengdu and Lanzhou, marking a new stage in China Telecom's 5G pilot work.

In addition, the company plans to conduct medium-scale field experiments in several major cities across the country in 2018 to make full preparations for the trial commercialization of 5G in 2019 and the large-scale commercialization thereafter.

In terms of 5G technology route, China Telecom has clearly stated that it will adopt an independent networking method, and in order to avoid frequent interoperation, independent networking should try to provide continuous coverage.

In terms of 5G core network capability requirements, China Telecom hopes to support interoperability with 4G based on core network interoperability, network slicing, edge computing, and voice fallback to VoLTE.

In terms of 5G terminals, China Telecom believes that the initial terminal product form of 5G will mainly be mobile phones in enhanced mobile broadband scenarios, and the key requirement of 5G mobile terminals is to support full-mode, full-frequency and full-network access.

In addition, it is reported that China Telecom will continue to cooperate with network equipment manufacturers and chip manufacturers and conduct in-depth exploration. For example, China Telecom will carry out large-scale research and experiments in augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), tactile Internet, Internet of Vehicles, wireless communication applications, drones, power grids, etc.

China Unicom: Plans to conduct 5G trials in 7 cities

China Unicom is also not to be outdone in the progress of 5G. China Unicom has done a lot of work in the early stages of 5G commercialization. In addition to standard setting, it has actively participated in the 5G technology trials organized by the IMT-2020 (5G) Promotion Group and provided technology verification solutions and trial resources.

At present, China Unicom has submitted applications to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology for 5G trials in seven cities, including Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Nanjing, and Xiong'an. It also stated that the number of trial cities will be increased in the future according to the requirements of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the National Development and Reform Commission.

Ma Hongbing, deputy general manager of China Unicom's Network Construction Department, recently revealed that the field construction in Shanghai and Shenzhen has been completed, and the 5G prototype laboratory verification and some field performance verification of Huawei, ZTE and Nokia have also been completed.

Regarding China Unicom's development plan for 5G networks, Ma Hongbing said that specifically, in 2018, 5G scale testing will be carried out, including 5G commercial equipment, laboratory verification and field trials. In 2019, 5G will be pre-commercialized, the scale of testing will be expanded, and more cities and sites will be added. China Unicom is determined and confident to officially commercialize 5G in 2020 when the industry chain matures.