ICCSZ (Compiled: Nina) Light Reading mobile market editor Dan Jones believes that 2018 will be a key year for 5G, and the new wireless technology will be widely commercialized in the next few years. Dan Jones said that 5G will achieve five milestones in 2018.
1. The first fixed wireless commercial release
Verizon Wireless currently plans to develop three to five fixed wireless markets in the US in the second half of 2018, using its own 5G standard. Verizon Wireless will provide approximately 1G download speed in selected urban and suburban markets.
2. More standards!
The recently approved 3GPP 5G NR is only the beginning of the 5G standard work. The goal of NR is to develop a global radio framework for broadband services, and the real fun will begin with the second phase of standards, which will define IoT support such as 5G and high-speed handover between base stations. These standards are expected to be released in the third quarter of 2018.
3. The amazing shrinkage of the 5G antenna
Further miniaturization of 5G antennas will be one of the key design milestones for 5G in 2018. After all, no one wants to walk around with brick-like equipment, or see an ugly antenna array hanging anywhere. The key company worthy of attention in this field may be Samsung Electronics, which has been promoting 5G miniaturization since the summer of 2016. It is likely that you will see results at the Korean Winter Olympics in February next year.
4. The first feast of 5G
In fact, the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, which will be held from February 9th to February 25th, will be the first "play party" in the true sense of 5G. Korean operator KT will work with Intel to deploy a 5G trial network around the venue to showcase video experiences and VR with new mobile technologies.
5. Spectrum auction
Although there will be some early network deployments in 2018, the main theme of this year will still be the testing and testing of new technologies. In fact, in the US market, the widely mentioned high frequency millimeter wave frequencies (28 GHz and 39 GHz) are still largely unresolved, unless the 5G spectrum auction that everyone has been talking about can be put on the agenda. In fact, only Verizon can use the 28GHz spectrum for any large-scale 5G commercial. As a result, AT&T has developed a plan to require the FCC to auction 200 MHz spectrum blocks for the 39 GHz spectrum for 5G applications as soon as possible. Spectrum is an important lifeline for all 5G activities, so the 2018 spectrum auction may be the most critical milestone for 5G.