The countdown to global 5G commercialization begins: an overview of the industrial landscape of various countries

In 2017, the global 5G mobile communications era is getting closer and closer. Governments around the world have regarded 5G construction and application development as important national goals. 5G telecom operators and equipment manufacturers from various technology camps are also gearing up for the 5G market, and the war is imminent.

China: Deploy more than 10,000 5G commercial base stations in 2020

my country has also paid great attention to the development of 5G. This year's government work report clearly stated that in 2017, we should accelerate the research and development and transformation of 5G and other technologies to expand and strengthen industrial clusters. With the strong promotion of the government report, my country's 5G industry is expected to usher in more policy dividends, and key technologies will accelerate breakthroughs.

In fact, my country is already in the lead in promoting 5G. At present, my country's 5G research and development has entered the second phase of testing, and it is expected to be put into trial commercial use as early as next year. The industry predicts that China will deploy more than 10,000 5G commercial base stations in 2020.

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United States: Plans to fully realize 5G commercial use in 2018

As early as the middle of last year, the US government allocated radio frequencies for 5G networks, planning to achieve full commercial use in 2018. At that time, the US government also provided funding to telecommunications companies to conduct preliminary 5G trials in four cities.

This year, the US operator Verizon officially announced that it will deploy 5G commercial wireless networks and 5G core networks in parts of the United States in the second half of 2018. Equipment vendor Ericsson will provide 5G core networks, 5G wireless access networks, transmission networks and related services, which will accelerate the commercialization of 5G solutions based on 3GPP standards.

Russia: Exploring ways to cooperate in 5G co-construction and sharing

As a country with considerable strength in the global market, Russia's progress in 5G does not seem to be as smooth as expected. Compared with other countries, Russia faces high 5G construction costs, which is undoubtedly a double blow to the 5G industry, which has already invested heavily.

In response, MegaFon and Rostelecom, two large Russian telecom operators, are trying to overcome the huge cost challenges of building 5G networks in the Russian market by combining their strengths. The first step in the cooperation between the two parties is to set up a working group, and the two operators will use the 3.4-3.6GHz and 26GHz frequency bands to explore the "options" of launching 5G technology.

Japan: 5G service coverage will be expanded nationwide in 2023

Similar to the Winter Olympics in South Korea, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics in Japan have also become an important boost to Japan's 5G development. In order to support the holding of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, Japanese operators will launch 5G commercial use in some areas such as the center of Tokyo, and then gradually expand the area.

Japan's three major mobile operators, NTT DoCoMo, KDDI and SoftBank, plan to launch 5G services in some areas in 2020, and expect to expand the commercial use of 5G to the whole of Japan around 2023, with a total investment of up to 5 trillion yen.

EU: 5G will be launched in European cities by 2025

As the largest international organization for regional economic cooperation in Europe, the EU will not allow itself to be absent from this global 5G feast.

Based on the preliminary agreement in July, the EU recently established a 5G development roadmap, which lists the main activities and their time frames. Through the roadmap, the EU has agreed on a plan to coordinate the technical use and purpose of 5G spectrum and its allocation to telecom operators. Member state representatives of the European Telecommunications Commission agreed on a plan to launch 5G in cities across Europe by 2025.

South Korea: 5G trial network has entered the 3rd testing stage

Compared with other countries in the world that plan to commercialize 5G in 2020, South Korea seems to want to start practical actions earlier. In April this year, Korea Telecom (KT), the second largest telecom operator in South Korea, Ericsson and other technical partners announced that they had reached a consensus on the steps and details of the deployment and optimization of the 5G test network in 2017, including a joint technology development plan.

In order to show the momentum of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics combined with the latest information and communication technology, Korea Telecom (KT) has entered the first test phase of the 5G trial network, which will be used to support the Winter Olympics to be held in PyeongChang next year. In other words, in 2018, KT will be able to show the world Korea's strength in combining 5G with other high technologies.

Brazil: Signs cooperation agreements with multiple countries to develop 5G networks

While the United States, China, Japan, the European Union, South Korea and other countries are each working on 5G, Brazil has adopted different policies. In the middle of this year, the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communications (MCTIC) pointed out that it has signed a technology development cooperation agreement with scientific and technological personnel from the above countries and communities in order to jointly develop 5G networks.

In fact, Brazil is the sixth country in the world to participate in the development of 5G information technology. So far, Brazil has made considerable achievements in the development of global information and communication technology. This also shows that Brazil is now capable of investing in, developing and conducting in-depth research on 5G networks.

Australia: Trial during the Commonwealth Games in 2018

On the "broad road" of 5G, Australia is also keeping up with the pace of global 5G development. Recently, Australian telecommunications companies said they would accelerate the establishment of global 5G network standards and the upgrade of Australia's network system, and planned to trial it during the Commonwealth Games in Australia in 2018.

According to the head of Telstra, Telstra is communicating with a number of world-renowned technology companies, including Google, Microsoft and Qualcomm, hoping to participate in and promote the formulation of global 5G network standards and technology development, and to make modifications to the proposed 5G standards to ensure that the new standards are applicable to Australia.