U.S. Expected to Catch Up Quickly on 5G After Lagging
The U.S. appears to be falling behind Asia and Europe in the development of next-generation mobile technologies, said those active in 5G research, in interviews. Governments in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region "have been very aggressive" in funding 5G initiatives, said 4G Americas President Chris Pearson. The U.S. doesn't consider that "the term 5G is worth discussing" because the very definition of the technology is still uncertain, said Thibaut Kleiner, European Commission DG CONNECT head of unit, network technologies. Both men, nevertheless, expect the U.S. to move forward rapidly. To help American industry, the National Institute for Standards and Technology is establishing research projects to develop the next wave of communications technologies,said Kent Rochford, director of NIST's new Communications Technology Laboratory.
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"5G is a hot topic in the industry," said Pearson. At a recent 4G Americas analysts' forum, most participants agreed on several key items, he said. The first is that "we don't know yet what '5G' actually stands for, as there is no standard and the process has just begun." The second is that "there is a lot of momentum in the marketplace to start planning" for 5G networks that would be deployed beginning in 2020, he said. Another area of accord is that the industry must "clearly focus on the use cases" 5G networks would be solving; and participants agreed that current 3GPP standards on LTE-Advanced give operators a robust technology plan that offers excellent innovation for mobile broadband for years to come, said Pearson.
Kleiner's unit, which is in charge of the EU 5G public-private partnership (5GPPP), is making many international contacts, he said. It has been in touch with the FCC, National Science Foundation and White House to discuss research and alternative visions about future networks, he said. While the U.S. entities are considering similar research areas to the ones Europe is pursuing under the 5GPPP, "they are reluctant to put them under the 5G umbrella at this stage," he said. This could change rapidly, however, if industry groups such as 4G Americas make a move, he said.
While the U.S. and Americas have several university- and government-sponsored activities under way, "it is generally viewed that the Americas region is lagging behind the EU and Asia" in 5G research and development, 4G Americas said in a June summary of 5G global initiatives (bit.ly/1CgOoJl). The U.S., as a long-time leader in advancing 4G, "should take action to increase their global leadership in 5G," it said. It called for a "much greater technology commitment and financial investment for more research."
It's hard to say why the U.S. is perceived to be lagging in 5G, Pearson said. U.S. industry often takes the lead in such matters, and in the next few months, U.S. companies are likely to put forth their vision of 5G technologies, he said. The mobile broadband sector is a global business and the U.S. likely won't fall behind in any deployments of future wireless technology, said Pearson. Nevertheless, "the U.S. and the rest of the Americas will need to provide their vision very soon of 5G to ensure that the 5G solutions are appropriate for the marketplace in North, Central and South America," he said.
NIST set up the Communications Technology Laboratory six months ago, "because we know that technology, measurement, and standards development will be very important in this area for the foreseeable future," said Rochford. NIST wants to ensure that "we can support U.S. industry as they develop products for the next-generation of wireless communications, whether it is 4G or what ultimately may become 5G," he said in an email.
"It's not necessarily a 4G versus 5G thing," Rochford said. Both will evolve from the best technologies and methods available, he said. "Everyone in this field is working hard to develop the next-big-thing that will win customers in the marketplace and U.S..companies are certainly doing that." A range of businesses in networking, devices and testing equipment is actively involved in 4G and 5G, he said.