Spectators take a look at the 5G technology during the Mobile World Congress in Shanghai in July. (Photo : www.news.xinhuanet.com)
China is interested to play a decisive role in the coming 5G era, as the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) adopted some technical terms proposed by the government for the industry, the Want China Times reported.
The ITU will start 5G applications by 2020, while the United States and South Korea moved their schedules ahead to 2018.
According to the report, 5G users can download large amounts of data and enjoy 3D movies and games online in an instant by that time.
The transmission speed must first be upgraded and stability of existing communication networks must also be addressed to allow 5G users to connect to many things, from unmanned airplanes and industrial robots, to the Internet.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said at a seminar on Sept. 24 that 5G will be the key foundation for developing an information superhighway to address the network demand created by the Internet of Things (IoT).
However, to attain the goal, the country must first establish international standards for advanced transmission, where China is taking the lead position, the report said.
Liu Shou-wen, an executive with ZTE Corporation, said that 5G will enable people to exchange information with other people or with objects.
Dong Xiaolu, an MIIT official, said that the specific demands of the IoT and IoV (Internet of Vehicles) will be supplied by 5G's ultrafast mobile broadband, massive high-speed connectivity and low latency.
Recently, China Mobile presented its vision for 2020, which showed that 5G speed can peak at 20Gbps, 20 times that of 4G, with users able to experience 1Gbps.
An expert with Huawei Technologies told the Century Weekly that 5G is a new form of infrastructure, and it will not only be a platform for telecommunications, but on which new applications, new industries and new business models will be built. "5G means a technological and business revolution," the expert said.
The Huawei expert, however, said that 5G technology still needs to resolve two key issues: first on how to support mobile broadband services and vertical industries, and second, how to to open access to new spectrum brands to support much wider bandwidths and apply them to more fields than those available today.
The report added that Huawei, ZTE and China Mobile are engaged in developing 5G technology. Huawei started its efforts in 2009 and now has over 500 experts and nine research centers across the world involved in the project.
At a meeting of the Mobile World Congress on July 16, 2015, Huawei Vice President Hu Houkun said that the company is set to launch a 5G network with its business partners on a trial basis in 2018 before officially beginning commercial operations in 2020.
China, however, had proposed its set of standards for 5G technology at an early stage, Tan Yanming, a senior telecommunications industry analyst, told the Century Weekly, as China sees that chances are high that it can export its standards, technology and industrial chain and eventually dominate the market.
