5G commercialization should not wait until 2020, it is very close to us

One of the most popular focuses at MWC2017 is undoubtedly 5G technology. This technology may not have to wait until 2020. At present, operators, chip companies, and communication equipment companies are actively joining the competition. They may promote the commercialization of this technology within the next two years.

Operators are eager to promote

Verizon, a US operator, announced that it will provide 5G services in 11 cities in the US this year. It is so eager to launch 5G services because it has tasted the sweetness of 4G commercialization. At that time, the 3G technology HSPA had the same speed as the early LTE, so AT&T, which operated HSPA, was not eager to launch the LTE network. Verizon's CDMA2000 technology could not compare with HSPA. In desperation, Verizon took the lead in building an LTE network to cope with the competition from AT&T. As a result, AT&T soon found that its HSPA technology could not compete with LTE, and announced the construction of its own LTE network a year later.

Several major Chinese operators are now facing similar competition. China Mobile had a first-mover advantage in the 4G era. Its TD-LTE network was built one year earlier than China Telecom and China Unicom's LTE-FDD. With its financial advantage, it built a 4G network with a coverage rate close to GSM in just one year. As of 2016, the number of 4G users of the three operators was 535 million, 122 million, and 104.6 million, respectively, with China Mobile leading by an absolute advantage.

In order to change this competitive disadvantage, China Telecom is actively promoting the testing of 5G networks. As early as April, China Telecom Jiangsu Company will deploy more than 600 5G base stations in its service area. Although China Mobile's 4G network has a leading network coverage advantage, its TD-LTE technology is not as good as China Unicom and China Telecom's LTE-FDD, so it is also rapidly promoting 5G network testing. This year, it will select 4 to 5 cities and build about 7 sites in each city for system verification. However, under the stimulation of China Telecom, this progress may be accelerated.

Competition among telecom equipment vendors

Ericsson was once the world's largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer, but its performance has not been very good in recent years after being defeated by Huawei. It is now placing its hopes on 5G, hoping to promote the development of 5G to find room for development for itself, as it has 5G technology advantages. Ericsson is the leader of the European 5G standard and is striving to promote the evolution along LTE-FDD to 5G to ensure that it has a dominant advantage in the 5G standard. At the same time, Cisco, which is allied with it, is also challenged by Huawei. Both companies hope to suppress Huawei's challenge and, of course, hope to promote the development of 5G.

As the largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer, Huawei is not willing to lag behind. It also hopes to become one of the leaders in 5G standards and realize the transformation from a technology follower to a leader. Last year, its main Polar Code solution became the 5G control channel eMBB scenario (uplink/downlink) coding solution, which is a reflection of this. With the help of China, the largest market, if it can commercialize 5G first, it will undoubtedly be able to obtain more 5G patents in practice. In recent years, it has also actively cooperated with China's largest operator, China Mobile, to commercialize 4G+ and verify some 5G technologies.

Samsung is the world's largest mobile phone company and a technologically advanced chip company. In fact, it cannot be ignored that it is actively entering the field of telecommunications equipment. In terms of 4G standards, statistics from Taiwan's "National Research Institute" and ETSI show that Samsung has a large number of 4G patents, ranking among the top three in the world in terms of 4G core patents, along with Qualcomm and Huawei. Samsung is in a leading position in baseband technology research and development. It is one of the three companies in the world that have launched chips that support 1Gbps, the other two being Qualcomm and Intel. Huawei, the largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer, has not yet launched a baseband that supports 1Gbps.

On the 24th of this month, British communications company Arqiva and Samsung Electronics jointly announced that the two parties will trial-operate the UK's first 5G network in London this year, and will use Samsung's 5G base stations and equipment. This means that Samsung has officially taken the step into the field of telecommunications equipment to compete with Huawei, Ericsson and others.

Competition among chip companies

Qualcomm is undoubtedly a leader in the development of baseband chips for 5G technology. It was the first to launch a baseband that supports 1Gbps, and recently launched a baseband that supports 1.2Gbps. It has also released the X50 that supports 5G technology and can support a maximum downlink of 5Gbps. Since the 3G era, Qualcomm has been threatened by Taiwan's chip company MediaTek. Before 2014, when 4G was commercially available worldwide, Qualcomm was the main 4G chip supplier. After China began commercializing 4G in 2014, for more than half a year, only Qualcomm and Marvell provided 4G chips. MediaTek and Huawei HiSilicon did not launch mobile phone chips that support 4G technology until the middle of the same year. Now MediaTek's upcoming helio X30 only supports 600Mbps downlink. Qualcomm certainly hopes that 5G will be commercialized as soon as possible and continue to dominate the mobile phone chip market with its technological advantages.

Intel has not made any progress in the mobile market in the past few years, until Apple began to introduce Intel's baseband in iPhone 7 last year. This year, Intel's newly released XMM7560 baseband supporting 1Gbps is expected to continue to be used by Apple. Intel is pinning its hopes on the 5G era of the Internet of Things, hoping to make breakthroughs in the field of ICT integration by relying on its advantages in the server market, and of course actively promoting the development of 5G.

In addition to its achievements in the telecommunications equipment market, Samsung is also actively investing in chips. In addition to the upcoming Exynos9 that supports 1Gbps, it recently announced that its 5G radio frequency chip (Radio Frequency Integrated Circuit, RFIC) is commercially ready and will launch a commercial solution next year.

In summary, with the active promotion of various companies, 5G commercialization will not have to wait until 2020. The 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea will use 5G mobile communication technology for the first time. I believe other operators will follow suit quickly.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.