Telecom industry stakeholders said the completion of the first 5G NR standard set the stage for the mobile industry to start development of 5G NR for large-scale trials and commercial deployments as early as in 2019.
The 3GPP TSG RAN Plenary Meeting in Lisbon, Portugal, completed the first implementable 5G NR specification.
AT&T, BT, China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, Ericsson, Fujitsu, Huawei, Intel, KT Corporation, LG Electronics, LG Uplus, MediaTek, NEC, Nokia, NTT DOCOMO, Orange, Qualcomm, Samsung, SK Telecom, Sony Mobile, Sprint, TIM, Telefonica, Telia, T-Mobile, Verizon, Vodafone, and ZTE have made statements.
The announcement brings fresh lease of life to both telecom equipment makers and mobile service providers because they are looking for 5G to spruce up revenue streams from 2020 onwards.
In February, 2017 in Barcelona, mobile industry leaders announced support for the acceleration of the 5G NR standardization schedule, which introduced an intermediate milestone to complete the first implementable specification for Non-Standalone 5G NR operation.
This standard completion is an essential milestone to enable full-scale development of 5G NR, which will enhance the capabilities of 3GPP systems, as well as facilitate the creation of vertical market opportunities.
3GPP plans to continue to develop Release 15, including the addition of support for Standalone 5G NR operation also agreed upon by 3GPP in Dubrovnik.
The 5G NR lower layer specifications have been designed so that they can support Standalone and Non-Standalone 5G NR operation in a unified way, to ensure that 3GPP benefits the global industry with a large-scale single 5G NR ecosystem.
Industry comments and action plans
Hank Kafka, VP Access Architecture and Analytics at AT&T
Reaching this milestone enables the next phase of equipment availability and movement to interoperability testing and early 5G availability.
Neil J McRae, chief architect at BT
BT welcomes the first significant step to 5G deployment and we remain excited about the further innovations that 5G will bring.
Zhengmao Li, EVP of China Mobile
We believe the next important milestone that is SA standard providing 5G new capability could be completed by June of 2018, which is very crucial to enable the operators to explore the enterprise and vertical markets.
Liu Guiqing, EVP of China Telecom
China Telecom plans to lead the 5G effort by launching field trials in many major cities in China as early as 2018, and prepare for the possible commercialization thereafter.
Guanglu Shao, EVP of China Unicom
This first version of 5G NR standardization provides essential functionalities for NSA and SA deployment, which are equally important for operators.
Bruno Jacobfeuerborn, CTO Deutsche Telekom
Both the Non-Standalone and Standalone modes of New Radio are important for the completeness of the 5G standard specification.
Erik Ekudden, CTO at Ericsson
We worked on 5G since 2010 including early 5G testbed efforts created together with these industry partners.
Masayuki Seno, head of Network Products Business Unit at Fujitsu
Fujitsu will accelerate development of 5G NR products based on the first 3GPP 5G NR specifications and provide them to worldwide markets to support our customers’ trials and deployments.
Yang Chaobin, president of Huawei 5G product line
Huawei will keep working with global partners to bring 5G into the period of large-scale global commercial deployment from 2018.
Asha Keddy, Intel vice president and general manager, Next Generation and Standards
We will continue to play a leading role across the network, cloud and client devices; and with our first commercial 5G modems, we will help the ecosystem lead the way to 5G deployments.
Dongmyun Lee, chief technology officer of KT
KT will finally bring full-scale services of the true 5G standards to commercial market as early as 2019.
IP Park, chief technology officer at LG Electronics
We will make all the efforts to introduce new innovative 5G convergence products and services in the market.
Joosik Choi, head of 5G Strategy Planning at LG Plus
As one of the big contributor for RF analysis on LTE band, 3.5GHz and 28GHz dual connectivity operation, LG Uplus will keep endeavor for bring 5G NR deployment and advanced standard into industry for this ecosystem.
Kevin Jou, chief technology officer of MediaTek
Our focus is now on delivering viable commercial solutions that will enable the use of 5G NR technology to its full potential.
Atsuo Kawamura, head of the Telecom Carrier Business Unit at NEC
Completion of Non-Standalone 5G NR standardization is a significant milestone for the realization of full-scale 5G services. NEC is creating secure and intelligent technologies to realize such services.
Marcus Weldon, chief technology officer of Nokia
5G will advance new possibilities for the role of wireless technology in society, leading to dynamic innovation in mobile broadband and in industrial automation for industry 4.0, enabling the creation of exciting new applications that connect and control our physical and digital worlds.
Hiroshi Nakamura, chief technology officer of NTT DOCOMO
This completion will accelerate these activities and we will launch 5G services with Non-Standalone 5G NR by 2020.
Arnaud Vamparys, SVP Radio Networks at Orange
With subsequent 3GPP releases expected from mid 2018 that will accelerate application and IoT development, Orange sees a myriad of opportunities to deliver a differentiated and high quality network, and is therefore fully committed to working with the industry to roll out 5G.
Cristiano Amon, executive vice president, Qualcomm Technologies
We look forward to continue working with our mobile industry peers to bring 5G NR commercial networks and devices in 2019 in smartphone and other form factors, for both sub-6Ghz and mmWave frequency bands.
DJ Koh, head of IT and Mobile Communications Division at Samsung Electronics
With the completion of 5G NSA NR standard, we will expedite 5G deployments including chipsets, devices and network equipment. Samsung will continue making every effort to deliver complete Rel-15 NR standards.
Jinhyo Park, head of ICT R&D Center, SK Telecom
Having global 3GPP 5G NR standard by 2017 is one of key milestones to bring 5G into early commercial service in 2019.
Izumi Kawanishi, director, EVP, Sony Mobile
Sony Mobile is ready for full-scale development of 5G NR smartphones to take benefit of the opportunities offered by the new standard.
John Saw, Sprint CTO
We congratulate 3GPP and its delegates on this important milestone, and we look forward to working with our industry partners to deploy 5G NR in our 2.5 GHz (NR band n41) spectrum.
Giovanni Ferigo, CTO of TIM
TIM has defined a sound track towards 5G and is collaborating with key industry players, municipalities and public Institutions to unleash the full potential of 5G for people and vertical markets by 2020 expanding the footprint of LTE-A.
Enrique Blanco, Telefonica’s Global Systems and Networks Director
Telefonica acknowledges the full potential of 5G, and encourages the industry to keep developing ambitious ideas in order to deliver outstanding connectivity and bring the best possible experience to our customers.
Mauro Costa, director Network Architecture & Strategy, Telia Company
5G standardization allows for the early commercial deployments needed to open up for innovation and new business opportunities that our customers expect from us.
Neville Ray, chief technology officer for T-Mobile US
We’re committed to drive a 5G rollout across the US in 2020, and the efforts of 3GPP will help us to realize this great win for our customers.
Ed Chan, chief technology architect and Network Planning at Verizon
With this important 3GPP milestone, Verizon is once again well positioned to deliver next-generation technology to customers just as we did with 4G LTE.
Luke Ibbetson, head of Vodafone Group R&D
This first version of 5G will build on the success of 4G, providing fast and highly efficient mobile broadband services to our customers and setting the foundation for the Gigabit Society.
Xu Huijun, CTO of ZTE
ZTE will partner with the fellow mobile industry players to commit to accelerating the 5G NR large-scale trials and deployments.
The above list does not have any names from India, one of the key markets for 4G. Will Indian telecom operators such as Airtel, Idea Cellular, BSNL and Reliance Jio take more time to launch 5G. Do they ignore 5G based on 5G NR standards?
