The Race to 5G Begins
While some regions of the globe are still struggling to get decent 3G connectivity, several companies have started exploring the territory of 5G technology, in an attempt to anticipate the inevitable demand from users in the near future. The latest news brings us to the doorstep of Huawei and NTT DoCoMo, who have concluded their first 5G evaluation by reaching a peak of 3.6 gigabits per second, ten times faster than what we can find today in a mobile connection.
Why We Need Faster and More Stable Connections
Internet connections not only need to be faster in some cases, but they also must improve their stability. The number of connected users continues to increase, and web services are becoming more complex, a detail that places greater responsibilities on the cloud. This also modifies other parameters, among which the concept of the mobile device stands out. We have smartphones, phablets, tablets, hybrids, and all kinds of laptops with different capabilities to interact with the network of networks. What we currently know as '3G and 4G' manages to cover immediate demands, despite the multiple adoption and performance issues that certain regions suffer. However, we all know well that the Internet will undergo notable changes in the coming years, driven by both users and devices.
The First 5G Field Trial
In other words, it is a good time for the big names in the market to start exploring fifth-generation technologies, or simply 5G. News from China tells us about the success achieved by Huawei and NTT DoCoMo in concluding a test based on the 'multi-user MIMO' system, which offers simultaneous connectivity to up to 24 devices on a band located below 6 GHz. Huawei explained that the average downlink remained at an impressive 1.34 gigabits per second, while on an ultra-wide 100 MHz channel, the peak was 3.6 gigabits per second. Compared to traditional MIMO technology, this 5G experiment was ten times faster.
What's Next for 5G
All these developments aim to accelerate the standardization process for 5G and, of course, its subsequent commercialization. The Huawei and DoCoMo trial took place in the city of Chengdu, and according to DoCoMo's vice president, Takehiro Nakamura, its next phase will move to Japanese territory very soon, where even more impressive results are expected. Huawei aims to enable access to 'pilot 5G networks' for its direct partners in 2018 and advance in interoperability adjustments a year later. Needless to say, Huawei and DoCoMo are not alone in this race. Russia and South Korea have a World Cup and Winter Olympics on their calendars, and the first 5G networks in both countries will be linked to those events.
