5G Eras Is Coming

Shanghai municipal government and China Mobile Communications Corporation signed on the “Internet plus” strategic cooperation framework agreement in September this year. The pilot project of 5G will be released in China in 2018， taking the lead of the industry. The optical fiber will cover 9 million households and 8300 major business build- ings.

The fifth generation mobile communication （5G） is quietly coming with the mature application of the fourth generation （4G） and the rapid development of mobile internet. The thirteenth five-year-plan directly suggests that the fifth generation mobile communication and UWB （ultra wide band） key technology researching shall be actively promoted. The 5G business shall be released soon. Just imagine what changes and industrial reform the Internet of Everything will bring up with the development of the intelligent manufacturing， tele medicine and smart transportation.

During the Boao Forum for Asia this year， senior officers from China Mobile， Korea Telecom （ KT ）， Ericsson， Samsung and ZTE talked freely about the technique breakthrough and various application blueprint of 5G during the branch forum of “5G： communication transferred by will， everything reached by hands. ” For a moment， 5G becomes hot issue. Many questioned the necessity of discussion of 5G while the global popularizing rate of 4G is still low. How far is the era of 5G from us？

Why Do We Need 5G

It is mainly the communication between humans from the first to the fourth generation of mobile communication. The fifth generation of mobile communication will find ways to realize communication between humans and human and objects， objects and objects， which refers to the internet of everything. The so called 5G specially refers to the fifth generation of mobile communication technology， which has gone through four generations of development. The character of this kind of technology is the transfer from simulation technique to digital technique to the current high-speed multimedia communications. The number of accessible devices grows rapidly； together with the boost of using rate create the crucial network conditions for the mobile internet and internet of things.

Zhang Jianguo， ZTE wireless business department general manager， pointed out that in the era of 5G， humans are no longer the leading role of connection and communication. Apart from the connection among billions of humans， there will be ten billions or even trillions of new connection among humans and objects， objects and objects. The world of the “internet of everything” includes huge opportunities. Thus， to hold the power of initiative of 5G development is rather important for communication enterprises and the whole na-tion.

Nowadays， the technology of 4G has just popularized， domestic and foreign enterprises including Samsung， Ericsson， Nokia， Huawei and ZTE have all followed the 5G technology researching actively. As is introduced by Samsung， 4G technology is more focused on the promotion of mobile broadband transfer peak rate and spectrum effectiveness. The peak rate goal is 1Gbps. 5G will strengthen mobile broadband peak rate， reaching for 20Gbps. Wang Tong， the global executive vice President， Samsung China product strategy and research and development president said， what’s more important， 5G advance the huge amounts of links.

For the connection of huge amounts， mobile communications nowadays is mainly about communication between humans. With the increasing of portable personal devices such as smartphone， tablet， PC， smart watches and VR， the connection and communication between family products， community and public transport and logistics tools will be realized sooner or later. Thus， the linking amounts are rather large required by the mobile communication network. For the traditional network， this is an undoubtedly a huge challenge， which needs innovative technology to realize huge amounts of connections.

When we enter the era of connections of everything， to ensure the safety of personal information and property， and prevent all kinds of criminal and terror attacks， there shall be high-level safety measures. Otherwise， not only personal privacy and financial property face threatens， but also the safety of staff operating driverless cars and remote control. Operation of remote controlled medical， internet of cars， smart industry controlling bears specialty needs reliable information transfer and rather low transmission delay， which can hardly fulfilled by traditional 4G system. 5G system with low transmission delay and highly reliable information transfer is far more reliable for these operations.

Xu Huijun， ZTO communication CTO， said she often sees news of how ambulances miss the time to send patients to hospital because of traffic jam. How can we avoid this kind of accidents？ ZTE is trying to build transport data and business connection and communication across industries and regions through wireless communication， cloud computing， internet of products， internet of cars， big data and artificial intelligence， and even actively analyze the real time road condition.

By collecting road information of cars and roads， the best driving suggestion will be given to the drivers after analyzing conditions of different regions. The conditions include location of each car， their speed， goals or whether there’s water on the road， whether there is red light in front. Safe driverless driving can also be realized. Xu Huijun said， these all need supports of 5G support so we need to have perception and interaction as much as possible.

5G Network Open Up Era of Internet of Things

According to the current researches in each country， 5G technology’s peak rate will be nine times higher than the current 4G technology. With strong communication and broadband capability， 5G networks will bring the internet for cars， internet of things， smart city， and drone network into reality. Now these are still in the planning period. In addition， 5G will also be applied in industry， medical and security areas， which will greatly improve the production rate of these areas. Innovative production methods will also be inspired.

Wu Hequan， academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering and director general of China Internet Association， introduced that all kinds of internet of things are rapidly spread with the application of 5G network. Currently there is no communication between cars. With the introduction of 5G networks， the communication among cars， data centers and other smart devices will be built up. Thus， not only a high level driverless operation can be realized， but also several of transport data will be used， which will provide the best route for car drivers. Once huge amounts of cars enter this internet， the smart transportation will be realized.

Europe union research suggests that remote medical is one of the important application areas of 5G. Currently， remote surgery cross nation has to rent expensive large capacity transmission lines. Sometimes the orders sent by surgery devices still bear transfer delay， which brings huge risk for the surgery. 5G technology will ensure the “order-respond” delay time is near zero. This will largely improve the precision of doc-tors’ operation. In the soon coming future， patients will get fast surgery through remote medical devices whenever they need a emergency surgery or special surgery.

5G can also benefit normal users a lot. Apart from the diversified， smooth multimedia entertainment， smart family devices will also be accessed into 5G network， providing more convenient services for users. For example， normally the downloading of one 8G HD movie takes 70 minutes in 3G era and seven minutes in 4G era， but in 5G era it will only take six seconds. Countless new opportunities will also be brought into our life together with huge challenges facing traditional modes’ conservative supporters.

Apart from the above mentioned applications， internet for things will be a significant platform for 5G to show its power. Although the scale of current internet for things has not been widely applied， the industry bears a general idea that the number of accessible devices within internet for things is expected to exceed 100 billion. Device amount， data scale and transfer rate have high demands. Since current 3G and 4G technology is lack of sufficient supports， the real development of internet for things relies on the maturity of 5G technologies. It is also one of the driving forces of 5G technology development.

Early Movers of Communication Tech Revolution

Although 5G technology bears bright future， there is still a way to go for official commercial. The standard of 5G is not released officially. Undoubtedly， to hold speaking right in making 5G standards will take lead in new generation of mobile communication technology revolution.

According to international traditions， International Telecom Union， the special agency of United Nations which manages communication and telecom technology issues， will make the final decision of 5G standard. This agency makes distributions and manages global wireless electric frequency. It also makes global telecom standards， which plays a key role in the global information and communication areas.

The agency has opened up the 5G standard researching， and clarifies the work plan of “IMT-2020 and Outlook” project. 5G technology performance requirement and assessment method researching will be started in 2016. 5G optional scheme collection will be started in the end of 2017. The standard decision will be made by the end of 2020. During this process， all parties including European Union are encouraged to submit applications to International Telecom Union.

Europe Union has clearly stressed， it hopes to settle the 5G technology standard fits the global community， rather than various standards coexisting. Thus， global interoperability and economy scale will be realized. In fact， since 5G technology and the future internet for things are highly connected， there are huge economic and strategic benefits on the way. Countries like Japan and South Korea all hope to dominate the technology standard. So they have already started the researching and layout of the technology.

Early in the time of November， 2012， Europe Union started the large scientific researching project METIS， which is worth of 27 million Euros. The project is specially prepared for the researching of 5G technology. The current 29 members of the project group include device manufacturers such as ALU， Ericsson， Huawei， Nokia and Siemens. Operators such as Deutsche Telekom AG， DoCoMo， France Telecom， TIM and Telefonica Group are also among its members. European academic organizations， BMW group and about 80 full time experts are also partici- pated.

Apart from European Union， US， South Korea and Japan have also united with domestic operators and telecomm device manufacturers to start with the technology researching and industry arrangement. So far， the competition among all countries to dominate the 5G standards is becoming fiercer. On May， 31st， the first global 5G meeting was held in Beijing. 5G standard decision making institutions of all countries all disclose their latest improvement in researching and development.

As is introduced by general secretary of 5GMF in Japan， over the work in the past one and a half years， Japan recently released the White Paper for 5GMF. One of the goals written is to use 5G service during Tokyo Olympics by 2020. He thinks that 5G standardization is still at its initial stage. Currently Japanese operator DoCoMo has done some internet testing. When releasing its 5G standards， Japan will sure have specific advantage.

South Korea is rather active in the development of 5G. YoungnamHan， president of South Korea 5G Forum Executive Committee， said South Korea’s 5G commercialization procedure will take the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympic as the key timing point. The 5G forum will put its focus on the second stage of testing， including VR， AR and systematic development.

The outside world thinks if South Korea can lead the application of 5G network in 2018， it will take an active part in the 5G standard decision. As is introduced by Chrispearson， the president of 5G Americas， the members of the organization have all done several testing jobs. The operator AT&T will start the test in the late 2016.

Apart from the technology researching of each country， the major businesses in the industry have generated their power in 5G region. Currently， Qualcomm， the manufacturer of cell phone chip， said the development of 5G chip is speeding up. So far Qualcomm has finished all kinds of technology tests. It is estimated the 5G chip will be officially released based on the final 5G international standards in 2018.

China Speeds Up 5G Network Layout

In the evolution process of global mobile communications， China has successively gone through the stages of 2G trace， 3G breakthroughs and 4G synchronization. Now China is steadily carrying forward the development of 5G technology. China has properly taken the lead of international communication alliance’s working time schedule. On the smokeless battle field of 5G， China is unwilling to lag behind. Zhang Feng， the chief engineer of the ministry of information， said China will commercialize the 5G network in 2020.

China’s IMT-2020 （5G） driving group was jointly founded by the ministry of communication， NDRC （National Development and Reform Commission） and MOST

（Ministry of Science and Technology） in February， 2013. Now there are at least 56 membership units including ZTE， Huawei， China Mobile， China Unicom and Datang Telecom.

As is introduced by IMT-2020 5G national wireless electrical monitoring center， since the year of 2013， under the distribution of IMT-2020 leading group， the center deeply started developed a series of 5G researching and developing work. It mainly takes the spectrum demands， candidate frequencies， electromagnetic compatibility， spectrum utilization assessment， including taking the lead of “IMT-2020 candidate frequencies analyses and assessments”， participating in national scientific major special projects such as “post IMT-Advanced mobile communication technology and development strategic researching”， and the “fifth generation of mobile communication system pre-research and development”.

Apart from the researching in the national level， Chinese enterprises including China Mobile， Huawei and ZTE have all actively released their 5G technology researching and layout. In February， 2014， China Mobile has publicly stated， it will fully support the development of 5G project， and it hopes to lead the industrial 5G technology researching and standards making by efforts. It will take the leading role in the mobile communication standard region.

Currently， on China’s first 5G innovation development summit forum held in Beijing， China IMT-2020（5G） leading group announced， the domestic 5G technology has completed its first period of testing work. All key technologies have all been approved by tests. Seven domestic and foreign organizations participating the testing period have all received their certificates. These organizations include Huawei， ZTE， Datang Telecomm， Ericsson， Nokia Shanghai Bell， Intel and Samsung.

The key technology of the first period of the testing include large scale antenna， new multiple access， new multicarrier， high frequency communication. Other key network technologies include network sections， edge of mobile computing. As is reported， the second period of testing is planned to end before the end of 2017.

Huang Biao， the chief engineer of the national wireless electrical monitoring center said， currently China is steadily promoting the researching of 5G， and has properly taken the lead of the timetable made by the international telecomm union. We believe the role China plays during the 5G standardization will be strengthened compared with the 4G period. China will make irreplaceable contributions to the industrial development of 5G industry.

China is expected to launch a commercial operation of 5th generation （5G） mobile networks in 2020， and to realize a large-scale application in 2022 or 2023， an expert with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology（MIIT） of China said here in a recent interview with Xinhua.

Wang Zhiqin， an expert with the China Academy of Telecommunication Research of MIIT， said China started 5G research and development as early as other countries. In 2013， the Chinese government established IMT-2020（5G） Promotion Group， to boost systematic promotion of 5G.

As one of the leaders of the group， Wang said MIIT coordinated to conduct the worldwide biggest experiment of 5G technology research and development in January this year， and completed the phase 1 test in September.

“China is willing to formulate a unified global 5G standard with other countries，” She said， adding that the global research on 5G standard started in March， and it is estimated that the first version will be completed in June， 2018.”We started early and have accumulated a lot of experience，” Wang said. “I hope China can be one of the‘dominant players’ in standard formulation.”

She explained that telecommunication is a globalized and huge industry， and customers are looking forward to a unified standard， “we need to be more responsible and cooperate with the international mainstream enterprises.”She said 5G is designed for Internet of Everything， and 4G offers mobile Internet to people. As the increasing need for low delay and high reliability， 4G faces big challenges.

“Time delay of 4G is from 10ms to 20ms， but some application scenarios with low delay and high reliability requires less than 0.5ms，” Wang said， “and 5G can do that.”

She took automatic drive as example - “to realize automatic drive， vehicles should be connected with each other and have the ability to avoid crashes in high speed， which needs a very low time delay.”

China has attached great importance to 5G in the 13th national Five-Year Plan （2016-2020） and has set the goal of 5G commercialization by 2020.

Digital Silk Road

During the G20 Leaders Summit in September， connectivity， digital cooperation and innovation were placed high on the international agenda. We now need concrete follow-up proposals.

China’s Belt and Road Initiative has drawn great attention， domestically and internationally， since its announcement in 2013 by President Xi Jinping. Since then， China has made great efforts to guarantee the open nature of the initiative， which includes the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road， and welcomed new projects and ideas.

Thanks to this， enormous opportunities have been brought to countries along the proposed routes. Today， 900 projects are underway， worth a combined $890 billion， including a rail link connecting Beijing with Duisburg in Germany. China says it will invest at least $4 trillion in countries involved in the initiative. So why not a similar international strategy for a digital Silk Road？

The European Union is creating a “digital single market”， with the main aim to harmonize national regulations by reducing barriers to business operations across the bloc’s internal borders. If successful， Europe’s information technology markets will become a single market of 500 million internet users， providing EU companies scale and resources to grow beyond the internal market， and making the EU a more attractive location for global companies.

The bloc intends to use the digital single market to revive the European economy， and allow the continent to regain competitiveness and leadership in the global market.

This will not happen overnight， but the plan could have gigantic consequences for the global digital economy， and for China.

China is betting on initiatives such as Internet Plus to boost digital growth as a springboard for economic development. Why not combine both the EU and Chinese strategies to form a cyber Silk Road treaty？ Such an initiative would amplify the effects of parallel programs already underway.

Chinese businesses have reacted to the digitalization of industrial production swiftly. The European manufacturing industry must be ready for this challenge， too. Creating an alliance with China， which is interested in increasing its investment and cooperation in Europe， would be an opportunity for European industries to accelerate their digital transformation.

A cyber treaty should cover the deployment of new digital infrastructure as well as the promotion of new digital services and applications and the approximation of administrative requirements and rules.

China is the world’s largest internet market and will take a leading role in the global development of 5G technology and the internet of things， a network of devices and other objects with software that allow them to exchange data. Europe should be the first to ally with China， allowing it to fast develop its own 5G and IoT capabilities and gain a large share of new markets. China and the EU could conduct joint research and technology trials.

China is also the world’s largest e-commerce market， worth 3.9 trillion yuan （$581 billion； 522 billion Euros）. Europe should focus on strengthening its ties with Chinese e-commerce companies. Cross-border e-commerce presents huge potential for small and medium-sized enterprises along the Belt and Road to reach the ever-expanding and increasingly demanding Chinese middle class.

We need a Silk Road fund to invest in SMEs operating in 5G， high-technology and ICT that want to expand into other markets as well as those interested in transforming traditional businesses into digital ones. The fund could also target high-tech startups， which inject fresh blood into an economy， carrying the enormous vitality and nutrition needed for stronger performance. In China， 13，000 startups are set up every day.

The benefits of cooperation between startups in countries along the Belt and Road are beyond imagination. Rules that the EU is currently writing into the framework of its digital single market will affect the way the internet is regulated worldwide. Here stands a unique opportunity to harmonize Chinese and EU regulations at the same time.

In particular， negotiations should be opened to harmonize rules for online purchases of digital content， promote affordable high-quality parcel delivery， harmonize intellectual property regimes， and reduce the tax burden in the EU and along the Belt and Road.

Obviously， this is not only a matter for civil servants. CEOs should also be involved through a stakeholders’forum to provide input on bottlenecks and problems affecting direct investment and trade. Moreover， such negotiations should be based on thorough academic studies of internet regulations in China and the EU.

If the EU’s digital single market is widened to China， this would create a regulatory framework that can be invoked by nearly 2 billion endusers to protect their interests. China advocates a digital Silk Road cyberspace and a transcontinental digital single market encompassing the EU and China as well as countries along the Belt and Road that want to join the initiative.