Liu Guangyi: Spectrum unification promotes early commercial use of 5G and smooth evolution of 4G networks to 5G

5G has become the focus of major exhibitions, but the 5G standard has not yet been completed, the 5G spectrum has not yet been clearly divided, and the time point for commercial use in 2020 is getting closer and closer. All parties in the industry chain feel the pressure of the ***. Industry chain companies said that unified spectrum division is a common demand of the industry, users can get more product choices, and merchants can reduce costs. However, until 5G is commercially available in 2020, there are still many uncertainties in the spectrum division.

Global spectrum unification is conducive to the early commercialization of 5G

In the low-frequency band, 3.5Hz is the main choice for early 5G deployment in various regions. If a unified TDD division is formed, it will be beneficial to the acceleration of R&D in the entire industry. In the high-frequency band, such as 26GHz and 39GHz, the plans of China and Europe are consistent, which are different from those of the United States, Japan, and South Korea. It is hoped that these frequency bands can form a global unified plan to maximize the scale of the industry.

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For high frequency bands, the current consensus is the TDD division method; for future networks, the industry chain has higher expectations, which may not only be an increase in speed, but also how to use the respective advantages and characteristics of FDD and TDD to meet the needs of differentiated and diversified business development; TDD and FDD will both be important ways for 5G to use frequencies effectively, and 5G will be considered in combination with the goals of network construction and its own usage.

For example, FDD has better propagation characteristics, stronger coverage and penetration, but it is difficult for the existing FDD frequency band to provide continuous large bandwidth. For example, it is very challenging to achieve a rate of 1Gbps or 2Gbps. The unified spectrum allocation in the 5G era is intended to make full use of the advantages and disadvantages of TDD and FDD. This is an issue that every operator must consider in the 5G era.

However, we need to re-examine the planning of some frequencies, such as 2.6GHz. Some countries plan with FDD plus TDD, while some countries plan with full TDD. For example, the United States, China, Japan, India, etc. are all full TDD, which has formed a good scale effect and the industry is also very mature. Therefore, in these countries, this frequency band is very well utilized, while in other countries it is the opposite. With the continuous exploration and establishment of the advantages of TDD technology, it is necessary for us to consider whether this frequency band can be unified into a full TDD division, so as to construct another very important global 5G potential spectrum. At present, Sprint in the United States plans to carry out early 5G TDD deployment at 2.6GHz, because its 2.6G frequency band has a large bandwidth and can realize the sharing of 4G and 5G, which will drive the maturity of the entire industry in this frequency band and is conducive to the development of the future 5G industry.

5G needs to break down industry barriers

At a time when spectrum resources are scarce, if the spectrum is divided in a fragmented way, it will have a negative impact on future industrial development, while sharing resources can improve network utilization. Some 5G technologies can achieve, for example, 5G slicing can well solve the application problems of vertical industries, greatly improve efficiency, and significantly reduce the cost of industry equipment.

Liu Guangyi said that the barriers between different industries need to be broken down in the 5G era. On the one hand, more professional communication teams can be used to build and operate communication infrastructure, saving network construction costs and improving network efficiency in vertical industries; on the other hand, mutual benefit and win-win results can be achieved between the communication industry and vertical industries. In the 5G era, if the barriers between industries are not broken down, the interconnection of all things cannot be achieved.

Policy support promotes 5G development

In addition to the impact of standards and technology on spectrum unification, policy support also has a great impact on spectrum. China hopes to achieve industrial dominance in the 5G era, so if there can be clear policy planning, it will play a good role in promoting the entire industry. In addition, if spectrum can be allocated early, it will further enhance the confidence of the industry, help the industry increase the effective investment of resources, accelerate the process of industrialization, and prepare for commercial use in 2020. This is a good thing for the entire industry and a good example for global frequency planning.

From the perspective of industrial development, only after the spectrum is clear can each operator formulate network construction strategies and possible product requirements, and manufacturers can plan and develop products according to the requirements. The earlier the frequency is allocated, the more time manufacturers have to design, plan and optimize products. The first standard version of 5G was completed in June 2018, and there is only one and a half years left before large-scale commercial use in 2020, while 4G took a long time from standard to mature products. Therefore, compared with the development of 4G, 5G not only needs to accelerate standardization, but also industrialization and testing to meet the requirements of commercial use in 2020, which is a huge challenge for the entire industry.

Therefore, the standardization and industrialization of 5G need to be carried out in parallel, and the development of 5G needs to be focused and carried out in steps. From the perspective of past development, the most competitive thing for operators and the most concerned by users is the continuity of services. If the network is only built locally, the service will be less attractive to users. Operators use low-frequency networks for coverage first, which is conducive to the rapid promotion of services. Therefore, operators start with low-frequency basic network coverage construction, and when the business volume develops to a certain extent, increasing capacity and speed through high-frequency bands is a natural choice for the development of 5G.

At this stage, we still need to give full play to the advantages of 4G stock

It is expected that operators will start large-scale commercial use of 5G from 2020, but the 5G network may not really play a role until the penetration rate of 5G users reaches a sufficient proportion, which may be in 2022. Therefore, Liu Guangyi said that before 2022, operators' services will still be mainly carried by 4G. In order to continuously improve user experience and achieve smooth network evolution, it is necessary to explore and give full play to the potential of 4G stock networks. Therefore, operators also need to improve the capabilities of 4G networks to adapt to the development of business needs, such as speed and capacity, and the industry chain needs to work together.