Factors Affecting 5G Deployment

Question

Q: Factors Affecting 5G Deployment

Answer 1

There are several factors affecting all 5G deployments, including international decisions on standards and spectrum; the management of spectrum (e.g., auctioning spectrum, reconfiguring users to accommodate 5G, establishing agreements to share spectrum); the availability of 5G equipment and devices; and the installation of small cells needed to provide 5G services.

Standards

In earlier cellular networks, countries and companies built networks, equipment, and devices to different standards; as a result, not all equipment worked on all networks or in all countries

Technology companies and telecommunication providers saw value in developing standards, to enable technology companies to build to one standard, bring products to market faster, sell equipment globally, achieve economies of scale, and reduce the cost of equipment. Two organizations central to this effort for 5G are the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and the United Nations International Telecommunications Union (ITU).58 3GPP is a collaboration of seven telecommunication SDOs from Japan, China, Europe, India, Korea, and the United States. 3GPP has more than 370 members from leading companies from many nations. Members include leading telecommunication providers (e.g., AT&T, China Mobile, SK Telecom), technology companies (e.g., Intel, Qualcomm, Samsung, Ericsson, Huawei, ZTE), and government agencies. 3GPP is one of many organizations working to build consensus on technical specifications for mobile communications (3G, 4G, and 5G). 59 3GPP members have worked together to develop, test, and build specifications for 5G technologies. In 2018, 3GPP approved two 5G technical specifications: 6