World's first 5G standard emerges

The global mobile industry has completed the 5G standard by approving technical specifics for the standalone network of the fifth generation communication technology.

The move is kicking off the final sprint toward 5G commercialization, meaning that global mobile carriers, telecom equipment suppliers and device makers can now work together to build a standalone 5G network.

The 3rd Generation Partnership Project, or 3GPP, which is a global organization that oversees cellular standards, agreed on the specification for a standalone 5G network on Thursday in Spain.

Georg Mayer, chair of 3GPP TSG CT, said two years ago that 5G was seen as a vision or even just hype, but the global mobile industry has made 5G a reality within a very short time.

"The outcome is an amazing set of standards that will not only provide higher data rates and bandwidth to end customers but which is open and flexible enough to satisfy the communication needs of different industries," Mayer said in a statement.

According to 3GPP, the completion of standalone specifications complements the non-standalone standards which were approved in December. It not only gives 5G the ability of independent deployment, but also provides a brand-new end-to-end network architecture, making 5G a facilitator and an accelerator during the intelligent information and communications technology improvement process for enterprise customers and vertical industries.

China, as a major contributor to the 5G standard, is aiming to commercialize 5G services in 2019.
The nation is expected to have 576 million 5G users by 2025, or over 40 percent of global consumption, according to a report released by Ernst & Young.

The report, titled China Is Poised to Win the 5G Race, estimated that the nation's 5G capital expense is expected to hit 1.5 trillion yuan ($223 billion) between 2019 and 2025. Proactive government support and industrial capital investments have helped shape a self-sustainable 5G environment in China, it added.

Li Zhengmao, vice-president of China Mobile, the world's largest telecom carrier by mobile subscribers, said 5G is widely seen as a strategic opportunity to offer faster internet speeds and better telecom solutions to help each vertical industry embrace new technologies.

"The move will accelerate our efforts to commercialize 5G by teaming up with partners," Li said.