"Finishing line": 5G networks to be, but not before 2020
At the end of April, the annual 5G Summit took place in Brooklyn. Members of the 3GPP consortium developing specifications for mobile telephony noted that the commercial implementation of the new generation of networks will begin in late 2019.
At this point, the necessary standards will have to be adopted and all technical difficulties overcome. We also want to talk about these difficulties further.
/ Flickr / Florian Christoph / CC
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As we wrote earlier, the specification for mobile 5G networks was divided into two parts. At the end of last year, the 3GPP consortium announced the end of work on its first half. It introduces the 5G New Radio (NR) standard for deploying 5G networks based on existing LTE infrastructure (non-standalone).
And now the summit participants announced that the second half of the specification for creating 5G networks on an autonomous infrastructure (standalone) will be released in June of this year. Peiying Zhu, director of the Huawei wireless technology laboratory and a member of the 3GPP consortium, confirmed in her speech that it would allow to start using 5G on a stand-alone infrastructure by the end of 2019.
Theoretically, 5G could be launched immediately after the approval of the standard (presumably, this will happen in September), but the introduction of new-generation networks is delayed for several reasons.
The first is the lack of frequencies that are necessary for the normal functioning of 5G. So far they are busy with other wireless services. And the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), for example, is trying to redistribute the “extra” frequencies to the needs of 5G, some of which are quite high - 95 GHz and more. In Russia, the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media plans to isolate a separate 5G range by the beginning of the winter of 2018. In this case, the authorities will organize an auction, which will allocate frequencies for 5G.
According to the upcoming standard, 5G networks will use frequencies higher than 6 GHz (millimeter-wave waves), however, to realize their support, it will be necessary to invest considerable sums in infrastructure development. According to Bloomberg, the transition to 5G will cost operators, software developers and hardware manufacturers $ 200 billion a year. If we take into account the fact that LTE does not work everywhere in Russia (according to the OpenSignal report , 4G availability in our country is estimated at 59%), we can assume that not all domestic operators are ready for large investments in new technology.
Another obstacle is the lack of fiber to deploy fifth-generation networks. AT & T 's George Sloan (George Sloan) emphasizes that America will need to install new fiber-optic cables to cope with new-generation networks. In Europe, there is a similar situation - Cloudfare spokesman Tom Paseka (Tom Paseka) noted that the EU will have to revise the topology of the laid networks for processing local content.
Addressing the issue of fiber optic cables is already actively engaged in England: the country's providers have launched a large-scale campaign to provide broadband Internet to all corners of Britain. In the US, AT & T also promised to add over 3 million facilities to its fiber optic network by mid-2019.
/ Flickr / mike mozart / cc
As we mentioned earlier, 5G networks have already been tested in a number of countries. The technology was tested in Britain, Japan, Finland. The first large-scale tests of 5G networks in Russia are planning to be held during the World Cup. The implementation of the test zones was planned by the Megafon company.
Manufacturers of smartphones and network equipment are also beginning to introduce 5G modules into their devices. For example, Apple is already purchasing the appropriate cellular modules from Qualcomm. The release of the iPhone with 5G is expected in 2020 (the IT giant began working in this direction in 2017). At the same time, ZTE plans to begin selling 5G smartphones in early 2019.
Ericsson and Swisscom promise that 5G equipment will be able to start work in Switzerland by the end of 2018 (if legislation or other legal restrictions do not interfere with this). At the same time frame, they plan to meet AT & T, but Bruce Kushnick, executive director of the New Networks Institute, in his post on Medium criticized similar promises of telecommunications companies and questioned the possibility of deploying 5G in the US so soon (due to the scale of the work that needs to be done to do this, and the cost of laying fiber optic cables).
T-Mobile plans to develop a 5G network across the spectrum, and not just within the millimeter wave range. Millimeter waves are well suited for densely populated areas, but problems may arise in the distance with them (the signal may disappear). In this regard, T-Mobile is already deploying infrastructure for the national network in the 600 MHz band. Kuopamaki also noted that the development of 5G will improve the quality of communication in the whole spectrum.
As for Russia, the large-scale introduction of 5G is scheduled for 2020. However, according to Forbes, the introduction of networks in our country may be delayed for several years. Presumably until the period of 2022–2027. Until that time, there will be a gradual improvement in technology and an increase in market demand for it.
PS Materials on the topic from the corporate blog VAS Experts:
PPS Our other articles on Habré:
At this point, the necessary standards will have to be adopted and all technical difficulties overcome. We also want to talk about these difficulties further.
/ Flickr / Florian Christoph / CC
')
As we wrote earlier, the specification for mobile 5G networks was divided into two parts. At the end of last year, the 3GPP consortium announced the end of work on its first half. It introduces the 5G New Radio (NR) standard for deploying 5G networks based on existing LTE infrastructure (non-standalone).
And now the summit participants announced that the second half of the specification for creating 5G networks on an autonomous infrastructure (standalone) will be released in June of this year. Peiying Zhu, director of the Huawei wireless technology laboratory and a member of the 3GPP consortium, confirmed in her speech that it would allow to start using 5G on a stand-alone infrastructure by the end of 2019.
What prevents to implement 5G faster
Theoretically, 5G could be launched immediately after the approval of the standard (presumably, this will happen in September), but the introduction of new-generation networks is delayed for several reasons.
The first is the lack of frequencies that are necessary for the normal functioning of 5G. So far they are busy with other wireless services. And the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), for example, is trying to redistribute the “extra” frequencies to the needs of 5G, some of which are quite high - 95 GHz and more. In Russia, the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media plans to isolate a separate 5G range by the beginning of the winter of 2018. In this case, the authorities will organize an auction, which will allocate frequencies for 5G.
According to the upcoming standard, 5G networks will use frequencies higher than 6 GHz (millimeter-wave waves), however, to realize their support, it will be necessary to invest considerable sums in infrastructure development. According to Bloomberg, the transition to 5G will cost operators, software developers and hardware manufacturers $ 200 billion a year. If we take into account the fact that LTE does not work everywhere in Russia (according to the OpenSignal report , 4G availability in our country is estimated at 59%), we can assume that not all domestic operators are ready for large investments in new technology.
Another obstacle is the lack of fiber to deploy fifth-generation networks. AT & T 's George Sloan (George Sloan) emphasizes that America will need to install new fiber-optic cables to cope with new-generation networks. In Europe, there is a similar situation - Cloudfare spokesman Tom Paseka (Tom Paseka) noted that the EU will have to revise the topology of the laid networks for processing local content.
Addressing the issue of fiber optic cables is already actively engaged in England: the country's providers have launched a large-scale campaign to provide broadband Internet to all corners of Britain. In the US, AT & T also promised to add over 3 million facilities to its fiber optic network by mid-2019.
/ Flickr / mike mozart / cc
What are industry planners
As we mentioned earlier, 5G networks have already been tested in a number of countries. The technology was tested in Britain, Japan, Finland. The first large-scale tests of 5G networks in Russia are planning to be held during the World Cup. The implementation of the test zones was planned by the Megafon company.
Manufacturers of smartphones and network equipment are also beginning to introduce 5G modules into their devices. For example, Apple is already purchasing the appropriate cellular modules from Qualcomm. The release of the iPhone with 5G is expected in 2020 (the IT giant began working in this direction in 2017). At the same time, ZTE plans to begin selling 5G smartphones in early 2019.
Ericsson and Swisscom promise that 5G equipment will be able to start work in Switzerland by the end of 2018 (if legislation or other legal restrictions do not interfere with this). At the same time frame, they plan to meet AT & T, but Bruce Kushnick, executive director of the New Networks Institute, in his post on Medium criticized similar promises of telecommunications companies and questioned the possibility of deploying 5G in the US so soon (due to the scale of the work that needs to be done to do this, and the cost of laying fiber optic cables).
T-Mobile plans to develop a 5G network across the spectrum, and not just within the millimeter wave range. Millimeter waves are well suited for densely populated areas, but problems may arise in the distance with them (the signal may disappear). In this regard, T-Mobile is already deploying infrastructure for the national network in the 600 MHz band. Kuopamaki also noted that the development of 5G will improve the quality of communication in the whole spectrum.
As for Russia, the large-scale introduction of 5G is scheduled for 2020. However, according to Forbes, the introduction of networks in our country may be delayed for several years. Presumably until the period of 2022–2027. Until that time, there will be a gradual improvement in technology and an increase in market demand for it.
PS Materials on the topic from the corporate blog VAS Experts:
- Shot in the leg: critical errors in the construction of networks of telecom operators
- The future of carrier services: what does the client need?
- How to efficiently allocate bandwidth
PPS Our other articles on Habré:
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/359352/
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