Dive Brief:
- Verizon is setting up an indoor testing lab in its Massachusetts and San Francisco labs, CIO reports.
- Mobile operators in countries such as Japan and South Korea have already begun trials of technologies that might go into 5G.
- A 5G standard is not expected until 2020.
Dive Insight:
Verizon said it will soon begin working with several other vendors, including Ericsson, Nokia, Alcatel-Lucent, Qualcomm, Samsung and Cisco, on what may become standard 5G technology. Verizon will test the technology in its indoor labs. 5G is expected to be approved in 2020 by the 3GPP, said CIO.
Several European companies are also beginning to work on the 5G standard, and in Japan, NTT DoCoMo said it hopes to have a commercial network running at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. In South Korea, Samsung said it will develop 5G technology with operator LG U+.
5G would offer numerous benefits to both consumers and businesses. It’s expected to have 50 times the network throughput of 4G LTE, lower latency, and capability to handle many more devices, CIO reports. Businesses could also potentially better tap Internet of Things technologies, which are expected to grow at a rapid pace over the next several years, with 5G.
