5G keeps refreshing the timetable and the three major operators have finalized the roadmap!

5G has been constantly updating its timetable recently, and is already on its way. At the "2017 IMT-2020 (5G) Summit", China Telecom and China Unicom both clearly stated that they would achieve pre-commercial deployment of 5G networks in 2019.

China Unicom: Pre-commercial deployment in 2019

Ma Hongbing, deputy manager of China Unicom's network construction department, said that China Unicom has not yet formed a clear and unified opinion on 5G. "But I personally think that using the existing core network and upgrading the wireless network can smoothly support new business forms. This may also be the need to protect the original 4G investment while meeting the requirements of new business forms."

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"Moreover, 5G cannot be achieved overnight. We need to solve the gradual process from 4G to 5G and how to meet the new business forms. Of course, it is very important to protect investments while effectively adapting the network," Ma Hongbing emphasized.

Judging from the overall schedule, China Unicom's current focus is to work with China Mobile and China Telecom to promote the IMT-2020 working group to promote 5G trials based on the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

However, considering the accelerated 5G process, China Unicom will also consider finding 2-4 cities in the second half of 2017 to conduct 5G technology verification and network verification and do some preparatory work.

In 2018, we will conduct trials in 5-6 cities using the three-layer network architecture to combine some scenarios, including indoor and outdoor collaboration. In 2019, we will deploy the overall scale for pre-commercial use.

In line with the country's pace, it is expected that larger-scale 5G deployment will be carried out in 2020. This is related to business needs and competitive situation.

China Telecom: 5G pre-commercialization will begin in 2019

China Telecom also has its own pace for 5G timetable. It has made it clear that it will start some 5G pre-commercialization in 2019. The goal is to deploy the network and provide commercial services in 2020, and continue to promote the evolution of 5G after 2020.

In addition to the timetable, China Telecom has conducted a relatively systematic study on key 5G technologies. For example, since the 5G frequency band will be higher in the future, indoor coverage will be a big problem. China Telecom is trying to use PON as the 5G transmission technology to cover special areas.

Massive MIMO will bring about great changes to the future network construction model. Therefore, China Telecom has begun evaluating and testing Massive MIMO.

In terms of multi-network integration Multi-RAT, because the requirements for the continuity of multiple services in multiple user scenarios are very high, although the traditional multiple mobile networks are fine and can be done very well through the core network, the result is that the service latency is very large and the customer experience will be very poor. This is not possible in the case of 5G networks. Therefore, China Telecom has been continuously promoting the integration of various access networks on the access network side. At present, LTE and WLAN aggregation have been completed in the laboratory, reflecting the preliminary concept and implementation path of Multi-RAT.

China Mobile: 5G is a strategic opportunity for operators to transform and develop

Previously, China Mobile has drawn up a 5G timetable: to launch 5G technology trials, standard customization and product development in 2016; to launch field trials in 2017 and 2018 respectively, and to conduct large-scale commercial experiments; by 2020, China Mobile will complete the large-scale commercial use of 5G in accordance with national plans.

At the summit, China Mobile did not mention the timetable for 5G, but focused more on the opportunities that 5G brings to operators. Yang Zhiqiang, deputy director of China Mobile Research Institute, pointed out that 5G is a strategic opportunity for operators to transform and develop.

Operators used to sell connections and infrastructure, but in the future they will also have to transform and sell services. This requires operators' networks to be open, flexible, and able to provide services on demand. They must have an intelligent, schedulable, and open network architecture. Therefore, the new 5G architecture design should promote the development of operators' network reconstruction.

The operator network reconstruction is mainly divided into four aspects: node reconstruction, network architecture reconstruction, management/operation reconstruction and energy-saving function reconstruction.

In Yang Zhiqiang's view, there are three key points in the reconstruction of operator networks: the first is cloudification, through the introduction of SDN/NFV, to realize the cloudification and resource pooling of infrastructure; the second is to realize the software definition of network functions; and the third is to realize intelligent management and operation and maintenance.

In the entire development process of 5G, the core network is a very important link of 5G. The 5G core network is not a simple technological evolution, but a major technological leap. To realize these visions, the industry has a long way to go.