5G INSIGHTS TELECOM ASIA SUPPLEMENT

FEBRUARY 2016

Mobile zeroes in on 5G
The mobile sector has a vision and a map,
but when can they really call it 5G?

ZTE
Published by Platinum Sponsor
5G Insights Editors Letter 3

5G: sounds like a plan 3 Editors letter

U
p until the middle of 2015, 5G was a fairly abstract term,
4 Newswire
more concept than technology. That was the nature of
the beast, of course. While the label 5G was initially 7 Cover: The mobile sector
applied to the idea of making radio links 100x faster gets IMT-2020 vision for 5G
than LTE, it soon became clear that there would be far
more to 5G than the radio interface itself it would be an amalgam 12 Q&A: ZTE
of next-gen technologies that would be needed to support the com-
ing data deluge and the billions of devices (read: things) that would 14 Viewpoint: 5G options and
be driving it. In that sense, 5G was defined less by its technologi-
opportunities
cal components and data-throughput capabilities, and more by what
kinds of services, applications and devices they would need to be
16 Analyst View: 5G hype needs
able to support.
Still, the telecoms industry thrives on roadmaps, and thats what a reality check
they got last year when the International Telecommunication Unions
ITU-R Working Party defined the overall goals, processes and time-
line for 5G development and, helpfully, some suggested perfor-
mance benchmarks that 5G should aspire to.
The devil is in the details, of course, but as our cover story ex-
plains, the upshot is that the mobile sector now has a much clearer
idea of what 5G should be, and how to get there even if not every-
one will agree on when theyve arrived at their 5G destination.
Our exclusive Q&A with Dr Gang Bo, GM for 5G Products at ZTE, Published by Questex Asia Ltd.
digs deeper into how far along weve already come on the 5G road- For additional information 5G Insights, please visit our website
www.telecomasia.net or contact:
map, whats coming in 2016, and how cellcos can get started on their
Managing Director Jonathan Bigelow jbigelow@questexasia.com
5G journey if they havent done so already.
Meanwhile, on the analyst front, Mayssaa Issa and Akmal Abdul Associate Publisher Jessie Cheung jcheung@questexasia.com
Business Development Director Jebb Lewis jebblewis@questexasia.com
Wahab of Delta Partners discuss how 5G technology is a potential
Editor-In-Chief John C. Tanner jtanner@questexasia.com
catalyst for operator leadership in the new era of IoT. But for all 5Gs Managing Editor Stefan Hammond shammond@questexasia.com
opportunities and possibilities, dont fall for the inevitable hype, Online Editor Fiona Chau fchau@questexasia.com
Art Director Pauline Wong pwong@questexasia.com
warns Ovums Mike Roberts.
Editorial and publishing office
Flip the page for details. n Questex Asia Ltd
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4 Newswire 5G Insights
China kicks off 5G R&D
C
hinas Ministry of Industry and
Information Technology (MIIT)
has begun research and tests on
5G technology, which they hope
to commercialize by 2020.
Xinhua reported that research and
test work will be completed by 2018, fol-
lowed by trials toward commercialization
to be conducted by domestic telcos.
Cao Shumin, who leads the MIITs 5G
China Mobile teams with Ericsson on 5G, IoT
E
ricsson and China Mobile Re-
search Institute signed a memo-
randum of understanding to
collaborate on 5G research and
development as well as IoT technology.
The MOU is initially for a five-year
period and covers verification, trial, and
standardization of a new 5G air interface
for commercial deployment from 2020.
China Mobile and Ericsson will also
focus on network architecture evolution
towards 5G, including close interworking
between 5G and the evolution of LTE, as
SK Telecom demos IoT standards interworking
S
K Telecom, together with five ven-
dors, demonstrated interworking
between two different IoT stand-
ards at the 2016 Consumer Elec-
tronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada.
SK Telecom along with Samsung
Electronics, Korea Electronics Technol-
ogy Institute (KETI), Amtel, and Axstone
successfully interconnected the oneM2M
and Open Interconnect Consortium (OIC)
standards.
The five vendors used ThingPlug (SK
Telecoms IoT platform developed based on
the oneM2M standard), Samsung Electron-
R&D team, was quoted as saying that the
efforts are meant to support the formula-
tion of global 5G standards and boost the
development of the telecom industry.
According to the report, China has
more than 905 million mobile Internet
users and about 380 million are
4G users. n
well as innovative RAN features to support
future industrial use cases.
As part of the agreement, China Mo-
bile and Ericsson will also work together on
the IoT segment, including demonstration,
verification, and trial of narrowband IoT
for machine-type communication, as well
as collaboration on corresponding vertical
use cases.
As the next generation of mobile in-
frastructure, 5G is the key pillar for ICT
development globally, said Yuhong Huang,
deputy head of CMRI. We feel that closer
ics OIC devices (home appliances), Atmels
sensor and lighting development kit, and a
gateway supplied by the oneM2M-OIC In-
terworking Solution developed by KETI and
Axstone.
They were able to control the OIC de-
vices via a smartphone by connecting the
two different IoT platforms.
Interworking between different IoT
standards is important it can dramati-
cally expand the overall IoT ecosystem by
boosting the development of IoT products
and services that can seamlessly interoper-
ate regardless of standards, the company
and more active cooperation between Er-
icsson and China Mobile will foster tangi-
ble results in 5G by helping to drive stand-
ardization, research and development,
and creating an integrated, cross-industry
ecosystem.
China Mobile initially launched 4G ser-
vices using TD-LTE technology in Decem-
ber 2013. By the end of November 2015,
the operator had over 287 million 4G sub-
scribers, accounting for nearly 35% of its
total mobile customer base. n
said in a statement.
OneM2M is meant to provide a com-
mon M2M service layer that can be embed-
ded within various hardware and software
to connect devices. This standard currently
has 216 participating partners and mem-
bers.
The OIC was created in July 2014 by
leading technology companies with the
goal of defining the industrys connectivity
requirements and aims to establish com-
mon ground on interoperability of billions
of IoT devices. Currently, it has around 100
members. n
5G Insights Newswire 5
Wi-Fi Alliance unveils 802.11ah standard
T
he Wi-Fi Alliance has announced
a new wireless standard dubbed
HaLow which extends Wi-Fis
reach down into the 900-MHz
band and is expected to keep the 802.11
family at the center of the developing IoT.
The new standard, 802.11ah, com-
bines lower power requirements with a
lower frequency, which means those sig-
nals propagate better.
This offers a much larger effec-
tive range than current Wi-Fi standards
(which operate on 2.4-GHz and 5-GHz fre-
quencies), and lets the newer technology
penetrate walls and doors more easily.
The alliance, which refers to 802.11ah
as HaLow, said the technology is well
suited to the vast numbers of new con-
KDDI, Ericsson partner for 5G core tech
J
apans KDDI has entered into an
R&D partnership with Ericsson
covering key 5G technology com-
ponents.
The companies have agreed to de-
velop a joint understanding of 5G use
case, requirements, and deployment
scenarios.
The agreement also covers the eval-
uation of the performance and applica-
bility of 5G components including radio
and core technologies.
We are committed to providing
3 HK, DoCoMo wrap up VoLTE roaming trial
3
HK, the mobile arm of Hutchison
Telecommunications Hong Kong
Holdings (HTHKH), has complet-
ed a bilateral international voice-
over-LTE roaming trial with Japans NTT
DoCoMo.
The trial used S8 Home Routed
(S8HR) architecture, an LTE data roam-
ing-based technology that can be de-
ployed without IMS interaction between
nected devices predicted soon across
many different areas, including automo-
biles, smart homes, industrial, and retail.
HaLow will interoperate with exist-
ing 802.11x devices, bringing the IoT into
the 6.8-billion-strong ecosystem of Wi-Fi
devices, the group said in its announce-
ment.
Like existing Wi-Fi, 802.11ah will pro-
vide IP-based connectivity, allowing de-
vices to communicate with a broad range
of other hardware.
The IoT has provided more smoke
than fire thus far grandiose predictions
about the numbers of connected devices
are commonplace, but widespread up-
take has been relatively limited.
The generally accepted reasons for
high-quality network performance and
user experience to address the needs
and expectation of our customers, said
Yoshiaki Uchinda, KDDI managing exec-
utive officer for technology.
Through our joint efforts with Eric-
sson we will study 5G technologies and
take an important step toward bringing
5G capabilities to the market.
Ericsson is currently involved in 5G
test network initiatives covering the in-
teractions between mobile devices and
networks in indoor and outdoor environ-
parties.
This arrangement enables VoLTE
roaming service to be made available in
fast-track fashion to deliver superior end-
to-end world-class quality HD voice and
video roaming, said 3 HK in a statement.
When up and running commercially,
this advanced network design will enable
3 Hong Kong and DoCoMo customers to
enjoy top-quality VoLTE roaming in Hong
this slower-than-prophesied growth are
security concerns and a lack of a unified
underpinning technology. HaLow might
go some way towards alleviating the lat-
ter concern, though thats still far from
certain. n
ments, as well as capabilities based on
SDN and NFV technologies.
The vendor has multiple R&D col-
laborations with operators in nations ex-
pected to lead the adoption of 5G.
These include two partnerships in
South Korea: one with SK Telecom to
trial core 5G technologies that recently
resulted in the first demonstration of 5G
small cells, and the other a deal with LG
U+ to develop 5G and IoT technologies
including narrowband LTE. n
Kong and Japan.
3 HK will continue working closely
with DoCoMo and other partners to take
the VoLTE roaming experience to other
geographies, the firm added.
The company, which plans to roll out
FDD/TDD LTE-Advanced network in early
2016, also launched VoWiFi service in
June. n
6 Newswire 5G Insights
ACMA removes barrier for LPWA networks
T
he Australian Communications
and Media Authority (ACMA)
has proposed changes in the na-
tions regulatory arrangements
to ease access to spectrum for use in
the IoT.
Proposed revisions would remove
a technical barrier to the operation of
narrowband low-power wireless access
(LPWA) networks in the 900-MHz, 2.4-
GHz and 5.8-GHz bands.
ACMA chair Chris Chapman said
Mobile industry agrees on LPWA standards
T
he mobile industry has agreed
on technology standards for the
emerging Low Power Wide Area
(LPWA) market.
The new LPWA standard has been
accepted by the 3GPP, the GSMA has an-
nounced.
Narrowband IoT, extended coverage
GPRS (EC-GPRS) and LTE-machine type
communication (LTE-MTC) all form part
of the new standards and will be includ-
ed in 3GPP Release 13. Standards are de-
signed to cover all LPWA use cases.
APAC to lead global IoT spending
W
orldwide spending on the
IoT will reach $698.6 bil-
lion this year and grow at
a 17% CAGR to nearly $1.3
trillion in 2019, according to IDC.
The Asia-Pacific region is leading the
way with more than 40% of the world-
wide total coming from this region in
2015.
Marcus Torchia, IDC research man-
ager for IoT, said the regions robust IoT
spending outlook builds on three dy-
namics.
First, that developing countries
technology investment needs are not
the changes would enable the use of
the bands for a variety of applications
including data telemetry, machine data
and monitoring, sensor networks, smart
metering, security systems and indus-
trial control.
The changes should encourage in-
novations in the M2M and IoT spaces,
he said. The proposals are a part of our
work in looking at Australias state of
readiness for IoT and identifying areas
where the ACMA can further assist IoT
Machinia Research estimates that
the LPWA market will be worth $589 bil-
lion by 2020, or 47% of the total M2M
market.
The GSMA said its mobile IoT initia-
tive, which is supported by 27 major mo-
bile operators, OEMs, chipset, module
and infrastructure companies, is now
working to accelerate the development
of LPWA solutions.
This is an important step in ena-
bling operators to deliver industry stand-
ard solutions by extending their existing
fully met with traditional IT, which is al-
lowing IoT investments to accelerate.
Second, government investments in in-
frastructure development and local busi-
ness modernization, in China, India and
the Philippines for example, are incorpo-
rating more and more IoT elements.
And third, a burgeoning new con-
sumer class is accelerating expenditures
in goods and services, including those
with IoT components.
Among industry verticals, manufac-
turing and transportation led the way in
worldwide IoT spending with 2015 totals
of $165.6 billion and $78.7 billion, re-
developments.
The ACMA has proposed other reg-
ulatory change to prepare for the IoT,
including the addition of the new fre-
quency bands for radio-determination
transmitters used as industrial sensors
and in-ground ultra-wide bandwidth
transmitters used in automated parking
management systems.
The regulator will accept input on the
proposed changes until February 26. n
high-quality managed networks, service
platforms and world-class customer
management capabilities, said Alex Sin-
clair, GSMA acting director general.
The LPWA market is a high-growth
area of the Internet of Things and rep-
resents a huge opportunity in its devel-
opment, said Sinclair. A common and
global vision will remove fragmentation,
accelerate the availability of industry
standard solutions and help the market
to fulfill its potential. n
spectively.
Both industries have been connect-
ing their supply chains, products, cus-
tomers, and even workers for some time
now, and really embrace the value of
business outcomes, said Vernon Turner,
SVP and IoT Research Fellow at IDC.
Over the next five years, however, the
industries forecast to have the fastest
IoT spending growth will be insurance
(31.8% CAGR), healthcare, and consum-
er. The fast-expanding consumer IoT
market is forecast to be the third-largest
IoT spending category by the end of the
forecast period. n
5G Insights Cover Story 7

Mobile zeroes in on 5G
Its 2016, and the mobile industry finally has a clear idea of what 5G is,
and how to get there, although not everyone will agree on when theyve
arrived at their destination

John C. Tanner
8 Cover Story 5G Insights
A
round this time last
year, the mobile sec-
tor was finally starting
to rally around the idea
of looking ahead to 5G,
even though there wasnt really a
consensus on just what 5G actually
was at least in terms of technol-
ogy. Previous evolutions to 3G and
4G, while technologically innovative
and challenging, were essentially
next-gen RAN upgrades with re-
lated architectural improvements,
which was fairly straightforward
compared to the nebulous concept
of 5G being kicked around at indus-
try conferences.
However, there was a general
understanding that 5G was far
more than a next-generation radio
interface it was that and a collec-
tion of other technologies, from ex-
isting LTE-A networks and Wi-Fi hot-
spots to small cells, SDN/NFV and
cloud technologies, work-
ing together to meet
the escalating
requirements of mobile data usage.
Put another way, the 5G concept
was defined less by its technologi-
cal components and data-through-
put capabilities, and more by what
kinds of services, applications and
devices they would need to be able
to support.
That concept was formalized
in mid-2015 when the International
Telecommunication Unions ITU-R
Working Party defined the overall
goals, processes and timeline for
5G development. Code-named
IMT-2020, the ITUs definition of
5G and its performance param-
eters were shaped by the ITU-R
Working Partys understanding of
the current trends driving mobile
data usage today and where all this
is headed over the next five years.
Obviously there are a lot of de-
tails to be worked out between now
and then not just within the ITU
but among other standards bodies
like the 3GPP and IEEE, and indus-
try organizations like the GSM As-
sociation and the NGMN Alliance,
etc. But from this point on, the mo-
bile sector has a much clearer idea
of what 5G should be, and how to
get there. A few operators in Asia-
Pacific and elsewhere have already
started down the road to 5G, al-
though true to form for the mobile
tech sector it seems not everyone
will agree on when theyve arrived at
their destination.
IMT-2020 vision
According to Recommendation
ITU-R M.2083-0 (which outlines
the framework and objectives of
IMT-2020), a key requirement for
5G is extremely low latency and
high reliability for apps like cloud
services, augmented reality and
virtual reality, as well as M2M apps
like driverless cars, real-time traffic
control optimization, emergency
and disaster response, smart grids
and healthcare.
5G also must support high
user density not only in terms of
crowded areas like shopping malls,
stadiums, festivals, traffic jams
and emergency scenarios, but also
in terms of the Internet of Things
(IoT). The IoT has its own require-
ments that go beyond density, such
as power consumption, transmis-
sion power, and latency require-
ments all of which will vary greatly
depending on the specific device
and application. A report from the
Global mobile Suppliers Association
(GSA) classifies key IoT apps into
two broad categories: (1) massive
machine-type communications (M-
MTC), which involves huge volumes
of low-cost devices and modules for
sensor networks, connected home,
smart metering, and (2) mission-
critical apps like connected cars,
industrial automation and health-
related apps like remote surgery,
where high reliability and low laten-
cy are critical.
5G also has to be able to pro-
vide high quality at high mobility
which is to say, it has to provide the
same (or at least similar) quality of
experience whether youre sitting at
home or on a high-speed train.
Not unexpectedly, it will also
have to support mobile high-defini-
tion multimedia, from Ultra HD dis-
plays, multi-view HD displays and
mobile 3D projections to immersive
video conferencing, augmented
reality and mixed reality displays
and interfaces. And these wont be
limited to TV and games they will
also be used for medical treatment,
safety, and security. That in turn
means that more and more mobile
apps and services will government-
related, including e-government,
smart cities, public protection and
disaster relief communication, edu-
cation, healthcare, etc.
And all of this will require sup-
Security
5G Insights
Insights Cover
port for extremely accurate po-
sitioning as new location-based
services emerge for things ranging
from emergency rescue services to
drones.
Technology roadmap
IMT-2020 also takes into ac-
count technological developments
already in the pipeline that will play
a role in the evolution of 5G.
On the RAN side, the most
well-publicized developments are
centered around carrier aggrega-
tion, advanced antenna technolo-
gies like 3D-beamforming, active
antenna systems, massive MIMO
and network MIMO that promise
better spectrum efficiency. Particu-
larly in Asia, theres also been a lot
of work on dual-mode TDD-FDD and
dynamic TDD to enhance spectrum
flexibility.
Theres also a lot of activity to
develop advanced waveforms, mod-
ulation and coding, and multiple
access technologies aimed at im-
proving spectral efficiency, such as
filtered OFDM (FOFDM), filter bank
multi-carrier modulation (FBMC),
pattern division multiple access
(PDMA), sparse code multiple ac-
cess (SCMA), interleave division
multiple access (IDMA) and low
density spreading (LDS).
Other RAN technology devel-
opments includes simultaneous
Tx/Rx on the same frequency with
self-interference cancellation, flex-
ible backhaul and dynamic radio
access configurations, higher-order
modulation for small cells, joint
management of multiple radio ac-
cess technologies (multi-RATs) and
flexible uplink/downlink resource
allocation.
On the network side, SDN and
NFV are already in play, and are ex-
pected to play a key role in enabling
operational network efficiency and
give mobile networks the flexibility
and visibility they need to support
the deluge of apps, services and
connections coming down the road.
Cloud RAN (C-RAN) will play
a major role in ensuring that base-
band and higher-layer processing
resources can be managed and al-
located dynamically on demand.
Inter-cell coordination schemes
like self-organizing network (SON)
technology will enable operators to
improve the opex efficiency of multi-
RAT and multi-layer networks.
Then there are technologies
designed to enhance mobile broad-
band service QoS, such as small
cells, License Assisted Access
(LAA), Evolved Multimedia Broad-
cast and Multicast Service (eM-
BMS), dynamic adaptive streaming
over HTTP (DASH) to accommo-
date more video streaming content
in existing infrastructure, context
aware applications for more person-
alized services, and proximity-based
techniques to enable direct device-
to-device (D2D) communication.
This is 5G
With all that in mind and with
the key caveat that 5G has to be
conceptualized and designed not
only for the applications and ser-
vices the industry knows are com-
ing, but for the apps and services
we havent even thought of the
ITU has developed a list of eight key
parameters that should define 5Gs
capabilities:
Peak data rate: maximum
achievable data rate (Gbps) un-
der ideal conditions per user/
device.
User experienced data rate:
achievable data rate (Mbps or
Gbps) that is available ubiqui-
tously across the coverage area
to a mobile user/device. (Note
that ubiquitous refers to the
target coverage area, not liter-
ally everywhere in the country.)
Newswire
Story 9
Latency: the contribution by the
radio network to the time from
when the source sends a packet to
when the destination receives it (in
ms).
Mobility: maximum speed (km/h)
at which a defined QoS and seam-
less transfer between radio nodes
which may belong to different lay-
ers and/or radio access technolo-
gies can be achieved.
Connection density: total number
of connected and/or accessible de-
vices per unit area (per km2).
Energy efficiency: on the network
side, energy efficiency refers to the
quantity of information bits trans-
mitted to/ received from users, per
unit of energy consumption of the
RAN (in bit/Joule). On the device
side, energy efficiency refers to
quantity of information bits per unit
of energy consumption of the com-
munication module (in bit/Joule).
Spectrum efficiency: average
data throughput per unit of spec-
trum resource and per cell (bits per
second/Hz).
Area traffic capacity: total traffic
throughput served per geographic
area (in Mbps/m2).
When IMT-2020 was first an-
nounced, many media reports focused
primarily on the first parameter peak
data rate if only because thats the
one consumers relate to the most.
After all, faster data rates from the
previous generation were the primary
marketing focus of 3G and 4G services.
Initial reports claimed that IMT-2020
would provide peak rates of 20 Gbps.
Thats true in a sense. ITU-R
M.2083-0 does assign actual values
to each of the eight parameters, and
it does say that 5G will support peak
rates of up to 20 Gbps under cer-
tain conditions and scenarios. Under
other circumstances, peak data rates
will be more along the lines of 10 Gbps,
and thats mainly for enhanced mobile
broadband services (i.e. accessing the
10 Cover Story 5G Insights

internet on your smart device like
you do now, only with a faster and
more efficient connection, and bet-
ter latency, etc).
But data rates for 5G will vary
depending on the scenario. The ITU
document says: IMT-2020 would
support different user experienced
data rates covering a variety of en-
vironments for enhanced Mobile
Broadband. For wide area coverage
cases, e.g. in urban and sub-urban
areas, a user experienced data rate
of 100 Mbit/s is expected to be
enabled. In hotspot cases, the user
experienced data rate is expected
to reach higher values (e.g. 1 Gbit/s
indoor).
Which is another way of saying
that with 5G, the exact peak rates
wont matter, so long as they deliver
the best possible user experience for
any given app or service.
The same goes for the other pa-
rameters. As Figure 1 (below) shows,
the ITU has assigned benchmarks
for each of them, but cautions: The
values are targets for research and
investigation for IMT-2020 and may
be further developed in other ITU-R
Recommendations, and may be re-
vised in the light of future studies.
The ITU adds further that the
benchmarks for peak data rates,
mobility, spectrum efficiency and la-
tency are basically extrapolations of
its current benchmarks for IMT-Ad-
vanced (the ITUs codename for LTE-
Advanced and related technologies).
And as a further caveat, the ITU
notes that the importance of each
parameter is app-specific. For ex-
ample, mobility isnt that important
in a hot-spot scenario, while a mas-
sive machine-type communication
(MTC) scenario would place higher
emphasis on connection density
than fast data rates (depending on
the app).
Spectrum issues
One of the hottest issues sur-
rounding 5G is, of course, spectrum:
not just the amount required but
where to get it. According to another
ITU report (ITU-R M.2376), utilizing
the bands between 6 and 100 GHz is
feasible for studied IMT deployment
scenarios, and could be considered
for the development of IMT for 2020
and beyond. And indeed, a lot of
research at the moment is already
looking at ways to use the higher-
frequency millimeter-wave bands as
spectrum resources for 5G.
For now, however, most available

5G performance benchmarks: the ITUs vision of key capability Figure 1

enhancements from IMT-Advanced to IMT-2020

Source: ITU
Security
5G Insights
Insights Cover
frequencies for mobile operators
are in the sub-6GHz range. After last
Novembers WRC-15 conference,
the GSM Association was able to
secure harmonized bands for 700
MHz (specifically, 694-790 MHz)
the lower 200 MHz of the C-band
(3.4-3.6 GHz) and L-band (1427-
1518 MHz). But new frequency al-
locations above 6 GHz werent on
the table, and are not likely to be
forthcoming until at least WRC-19,
where millimeter-wave bands above
24 GHz will be on the docket.
When can we call it 5G?
Even so, no ones going to wait
around until WRC-19 to get cracking
on 5G deployments. Many opera-
tors are already heading down that
pathway by deploying many of the
core elements of 5G, such as IoT
platforms, NFV, carrier-grade Wi-Fi
and carrier aggregation for LTE-A,
to name a few. Its early days, but
the foundations for 5G are already
being laid, even if most operators
arent thinking of it as 5G. Mean-
while, there are already a handful
of cellcos actively committed to 5G
roadmaps and trials. In Asia, that
includes all of the Korean opera-
tors (KT, LG U+, and SK Telecom),
China Mobile, NTT DoCoMo, Sing-
tel, Softbank, Telstra, and Vodafone
Australia.
Perhaps inevitably, there is
already some debate about just
how many parameters an operator
should achieve before they can of-
ficially declare their network or ser-
vice 5G.
This is partly because the above
ITU parameters are guidelines, not
hard rules. Official 5G standards
wont be ready for a few years, and
the standards bodies working on
them including the ITU, the 3GPP
and the IEEE, all have overlapping
timelines (see Figure 2, above).
Also, 5G technologies wont be
5G standardization timelines
Source: GSA
rolled out uniformly or even every-
where. Legacy 3G and 4G will still
exist, and 4G will continue to evolve,
possibly to the point where it can ac-
tually meet some 5G performance
criteria on its own. By 2020, many
initial 5G rollouts will be highly tar-
geted and limited to specific areas
and apps.
As for when it starts counting as
5G, it depends who you ask. A No-
vember 2015 survey from the GSA
provided operators, vendors, regula-
tors, analysts and consultants with
a list of 5G parameter performance
benchmarks and asked how many of
them operators would have to meet
to credibly brand the network 5G.
Over 40% of operators said all crite-
ria would have to be met, but some
said a few, while a small percentage
said just one benchmark would do.
Vendors were considerably more lax
in their assessments of what would
count as 5G, with close to 25% say-
ing just a few benchmarks would
have to be met.
(For the record, the GSAs
stance is that in order to qualify
as 5G, the two defining network
characteristics would be a new
air interface alongside the legacy
Newswire
Story 11
Figure 2
ones, and sophisticated network
slicing capabilities via SDN and NFV
that intelligently match resources to
applications).
The GSAs forecast for 5G rollouts
takes this into account. Accordingly,
the GSA says well only see between
ten and 15 early 5G commercial
launches in other words, 5G of-
ferings that meet some but not all
benchmark criteria.
The industry group predicts that
commercial deployment will begin
in earnest after the standardization
process is completed in 2020, with
over 270 operators having introduced
commercial 5G services by 2025.
However, the report says, this does
not mean those networks will be ex-
tensive.
The GSA expects coverage to like-
ly be initially limited to dense urban
areas, with cellcos using whatever
frequencies, modes and technologies
make sense to an individual operator
in any given location in order to de-
liver indoor and outdoor coverage
but in particular in hot spot locations
where capacity starts to run out. We
do not anticipate many widespread
5G network deployments within the
forecast period. n
12 Viewpoint 5G Insights
5G options and opportunities
5G technology is a potential catalyst for operator leadership in the new era of IoT
Mayssaa Issa and Akmal Abdul Wahab / Delta Partners
E
ver since Teliasonera
launched the first LTE net-
work in Norway in Decem-
ber 2009, close to 450
LTE networks have been launched
with over 240 networks planned
to go live in the near future. During
the past six years, mobile data traf-
fic has witnessed a massive 89%
CAGR and is expected to grow at
55% CAGR over the next four years.
Technological advances with
carrier aggregation and antenna
diversity improved LTE data rates
and round-trip delays which can
theoretically reach 3 Gbps and go
below 2 milliseconds, respectively,
with LTE Release 13. However, while
there is a limit to the availability of
spectrum and the number of an-
tennas that can be used, increased
data rates are not the only require-
ment for todays IoT applications.
All these tech advances and
consequent demands have pushed
the case for 5G, a technology that
is expected to be built around its
use cases. From smart vehicles and
smart homes to media everywhere
and human IoT, new networks need
to be tailored to cater for different
speed, capacity and latency require-
ments.
The first rollouts
The first 5G networks are ex-
pected to see the light in 2020
with Etisalat vowing to rollout the
first nationwide 5G network ahead
of World Expo 2020, and with Ve-
rizon confirming that it aims to
begin testing commercial services
in 2017. While other operators from
both emerging and developed
markets are also engaged in R&D
activities and field trials, there is
still a lack of consensus between
operators and vendors about the
technology definition and require-
ments.
According to a survey conduct-
ed by the GSA, over 40% of opera-
tors consider that all technology
requirements (see Figure 1) should
be met for a technology to be
tagged as 5G, while vendors seem
more flexible with almost 24%
classifying the technology as 5G if
it meets some of the requirements.
Figure 2 shows the current state of
development and 5G-related activ-
ity by key operators.
Technology hurdles
While earlier migrations from
3G to 4G could be done with soft-
ware upgrades for recent and
upgradeable 3G equipment, the
deployment of 5G networks that
can handle diverse IoT use cases
cannot happen in a simple network
overlay to the current LTE/LTE-A
networks.
New spectrum requirements
(both licensed and unlicensed) dif-
ferentiates 5G from earlier genera-
tions. The focus is currently on high
frequencies (6 GHz and as high as
300 GHz), which brings the cover-
age issue to the forefront and raises
the need for small cells to deal with
coverage gaps. Moreover, while
the need for a new RAN and air
interface is still not finalized, net-
work virtualization, self-optimizing
networks and fiber backhaul will
be among the core enablers of 5G
technology.
The costs associated with
these changes come at a time
when 4G has yet to reach its peak
(which is expected to be around
2030, according to the GSM Asso-
ciation), and when operators are
still investing in 4G while maintain-
ing 2G/3G networks. It is thus criti-
cal for operators to develop a long-
term strategy which defines the
role that telecom networks will play
to enable future advanced services.
The true 5G question
5G use cases (such as con-
nected cars, smart homes, high
capacity broadband, media eve-
rywhere, remote surgery, and im-
mersive augmented reality, among
others) have different speed, ca-
pacity and latency requirements.
This means that 5G must be built
as an evolution/combination of
networks (including Wi-Fi and
small cells) that cater to different
use cases in logical slices.
This novel concept of network
slicing will create a new business
model, where monetization of the
network is possible as operators
enable those on demand services
via network-as-a-service concept
similar to the cloud model that we
have today. Moreover, the oppor-
tunity for operators to host con-
tent for some critical applications
that require low latency will give
them more control of those appli-
cations.
In times where some opera-
tors are still perceived as pure in-
Security
5G Insights
Insights Viewpoint
Newswire 13

frastructure providers, this opens

up numerous opportunities for 5G key requirements Figure 1
them to be key players in the
smart services value chain. Other
opportunities for operators might
emerge from 5Gs low latency re-
quirement: in order to achieve less
than a 1ms delay, operators must
deploy fiber backhaul, full IP core
and interconnect locally to other
operators, a measure that makes
it unviable to deploy multiple net-
works by different entities.
The concept of a single net-
work infrastructure might then
resurface with one RAN being
shared by all operators, which will
not only give operators the oppor-
tunity to reduce capex but also let Source: Delta Partners Analysis
them compete on services rather
than purely infrastructure. This will Figure 2
enable operators to focus on pro-
Operators 5G activity
viding a complete service portfolio
and allocate more resources to de-
velop their internal capabilities in
the new era of the IoT.
While the question about
when 5G will become reality has
yet to be answered, the true ques-
tion lies in what the technology
will bring to operators: is it yet
another cycle of network invest-
ments when operators are still
suffering from declining revenues,
squeezed margins and high capex
spent on network upgrades, or an
opportunity to regain much need-
ed competitive edge against the
OTT players? n
Mayssaa Issa is a senior
research associate, and Akmal
Abdul Wahab is a research
Source: Delta Partners Analysis
associate, at Delta Partners
14 Q&A 5G Insights
Getting a head
start on 5G
Gang Bo, Ph.D, General Manager of 5G
Products at ZTE, provides a progress update
on 5G, whats coming in 2016, and how cellcos
can get started on their 5G journey
5G Insights: Taking a high-level view, how far has the
industry progressed with 5G in the past year?
Gang Bo: To put it into context, there has somehow
been a tradition in telecommunication industry for next-
generation technology to be developed every decade.
With the global success of LTE, the industry stakehold-
ers commenced the initial stage of 5G research in 2012,
and established a couple of regional research platforms,
such as the IMT-2020 (5G) Promotion Group, 5GPPP, 5G
Forum, ARIB. The 3GPP RAN Workshop on 5G was held
in September 2015, where 550 delegates and over sev-
enty presentations contributed to the discussion, cov-
ering the full range of requirements that will feed TSG
RAN 5G work items for the next five years. In addition to
standardization activities, countries like China already
see the emerging and urgent market needs of 5G tech-
nology. Consequently, 5G tests and trial plans have re-
cently been announced with the goal to complete overall
system tests and evaluations by 2018.
Which key 5G technologies have made the most pro-
gress in terms of development, standards, etc?
There is an emerging consensus in the whole indus-
try that there will be a new, non-backward compatible
radio access technology as part of 5G, supported by
evolution of LTE-Advanced in parallel. 3GPP is working
on identifying and developing the technology compo-
nents needed for successfully standardizing the next
generation system in a timely manner that satisfies
both urgent market needs and the more long-term
Gang Bo
requirements set forth by the ITU-R IMT-2020 pro-
cess. Furthermore, the next-generation system should
be able to use any spectrum band ranging up to at
least 100 GHz that may be made available for wire-
less communications in the more distant future. A set
of enabling technologies should be studied, e.g. new
waveforms (Filter Bank-OFDM), novel multiple access
schema (Multi User Shared Access) and coding schema
(Low Density Parity Check Code) along with deep inves-
tigation of propagation models at frequencies above 6
GHz with innovative stochastic and ray-tracing hybrid
modeling methodologies.
Can you give any details of current proof-of-con-
cepts or demonstrations ZTE has conducted with
operators related to 5G?
In the 5G research and test-bed area, ZTE has close
relationships and good cooperation with major opera-
tors around the world, such as CMCC, DT, KT etc. We
have developed and demonstrated 5G key technologies
like Massive MIMO, MUSA/FB-OFDM of IoT, and High
Frequency Communications. We have also developed a
network slicing prototype which carries actual services
with CMCC. And that network slicing capability can be
dynamically defined and instantiated on demand.
What other key 5G technologies or developments
can we expect to see more of in 2016?
5G goes beyond traditional cellular services for per-
sonal use.
5G Insights Q&A 15
A large chunk of traffic will derive from human-to-
machine and machine-to-machine communication.
The so called Internet of Things calls for new service
requirements, standards and innovative solutions. The
most challenging requirement is to support a massive
number of devices, which will easily run to hundreds of
billions. This means that the cost per terminal should be
significantly lower than mobile devices. The power con-
sumption has to be low enough so that devices can be
battery-powered for years without recharging. Also the
coverage should be robust enough so that devices deep
inside basements can connect to the network. Non-or-
thogonal transmission based Multi-user Shared Access
(MUSA), as one of the new enabling technologies for IoT,
allows multiple users to simultaneously access the net-
work using the same frequency resources. Access can
be contention-based, thus significantly reducing the
control overhead for granting resources and indicating
the transmission format. Control signaling optimization
can reduce signaling overhead when a large number of
devices connect to the network.
What are the key challenges still to be overcome?
It is highly desirable to develop a next-generation
new radio access technology to meet a broad range
of use cases, including enhanced mobile broadband,
massive MTC, critical MTC, as identified in the Recom-
mendation ITU-R M.2083 [Framework and overall ob-
jectives of the future development of IMT for 2020 and
beyond]. A well-designed technical framework provid-
ing mechanisms for forward compatibility is needed
with consideration for phased introduction of 5G fea-
tures in commercial deployment. For example, Phase I
of 5G targeting commercial launch in 2020 includes fea-
tures focusing on enhanced mobile broadband [eMBB],
while Phase II supports complementary features target-
ing commercial launches beyond 2020 for further eMBB
enhancements and IoT.
We encourage the industry to pay more attention to
unified air interface concept, standardization and imple-
mentation, because it yields to a universal design for all
spectrum and use cases rather having dedicated tech-
nology for specific ones. Furthermore, we need global
alignment and consensus-building regarding IMT-2020
spectrum, especially at frequencies below and above 6
GHz, which is essential to establishing a worldwide eco-
system that is beneficial not only to the telecommunica-
tions industry but to others who play a significant role in
human society.
What is the most effective way to incorporate legacy
infrastructure into an operators 5G roadmap?
In order to protect their investment, operators are
very concerned about how to smoothly evolve to 5G. As
a key player in the telecoms industry, ZTE has plenty of
practical experience in real network deployments and
system upgrades. In addition to research of 5G stand-
ards, we are also focused on the urgent demands of mo-
bile operators over the next three to five years, starting
with our proposed Pre5G solution.
Pre5G takes advantage of practical 5G technolo-
gies and enables 4G users to enjoy a 5G-like experience
right from 2015, allowing mobile operators to make full
use of their existing site infrastructure and spectrum
resources, and improve network performance and av-
erage connection speed by 4 to 6 times. So the Pre5G
solution could effectively help mobile carriers to solve
their traffic bottleneck issues early, before 2020, and
ensure prosperous development of mobile applications
and even IoT.
Inside Pre5G, there are many key technologies, such
as Massive MIMO, Pre5G UDN [ultra-dense network]
and MUSA etc. These can help us to solve the challenge
of rapid growth traffic vs limited spectrum, cell density
vs interference, and network congestion due to massive
connections.
With that in mind, in order to incorporate legacy in-
frastructure into an operators 5G roadmap, we think the
following approach may be a good choice. In Phase 1, lo-
cally deploy Pre5G and 5G RAN in large traffic-demand
areas, and access the EPC of the existing 4G network
via X1. For Phase 2, stop 4G EPC capacity upgrades and
introduce the 5G core network step by step, along with
new 4G/5G expansion base stations docking with the
5G CN Then for Phase 3, deploy 5G RAN and 5G core
network throughout the rest of the entire network after
communication businesses and business type continue
to increase, then 4G/5G base stations can be trans-
ferred to the 5G core network. Through these three stag-
es, the 4G network can be smoothly upgraded to 5G. n
16 Analyst View 5G Insights
5G hype needs a reality check
Consensus is emerging on key aspects of 5G, but beware of the inevitable
industry hype
Mike Roberts / Ovum
O
n the same day as Qual-
comms first public dem-
onstration of millimeter
wave (mmWave) a tech-
nology central to 5G Ericsson an-
nounced its prediction of 150 million
5G subscriptions by the end of 2021.
This intriguing contrast of 5G reality
versus hype suggests its time for a
5G reality check.
While there have been many
5G demonstrations to date, Qual-
comms was interesting because it
showed how mmWave will support
high-speed mobile connections
in high-frequency spectrum. The
demo, a TDD prototype system run-
ning in the 28-GHz band, included a
base station with 128 antennas and a
device with 16 antennas. It used intel-
ligent beamforming and beam track-
ing to maintain a connection as a
researcher slowly moved the device.
With data speeds near 500 Mbps
downstream and 80 Mbps upstream
in a 226-MHz channel, it showed
how 5G technology will make mobile
broadband services viable in high-
frequency spectrum.
While the demo was a prototype
system, Qualcomm made it clear
at the event that it would bring 5G
chipsets to market in time to sup-
port commercial deployment of 5G
services in 2020. It seems the entire
industry is working to this timeline.
Some key design features:
Three market segments
Amid an increasing number of 5G
demos by Qualcomm and other ven-
dors, consensus has emerged about
key aspects of the 5G standard. 5G
is now designed to serve three differ-
ent market segments. These are en-
hanced mobile broadband, massive
Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity,
and ultra-reliable communications.
Key features of the different seg-
ments include:
Extreme mobile broadband:
High speeds measured in Gbps,
latency down to 1 millisecond
(ms) end-to-end, and the use of
high-frequency spectrum bands
above 6 GHz.
Massive IoT: Low power con-
sumption, low cost, and the use of
low-frequency spectrum bands
to provide broad and in-building
coverage.
Ultra-reliable communications:
High reliability, high availability,
and low latency down to 1ms end-
to-end.
Key design features
In order to serve these differ-
ent segments, 5G is designed to be
flexible and scalable at every level
from the physical layer of equipment
through to the network architecture.
Unified air interface: A new 5G
air interface is being developed to
work across a huge range of spec-
trum bands and channel sizes
and support a variety of different
use cases with different require-
ments across key performance
metrics like data speeds, power
consumption, latency, and sys-
tem reliability. This air interface
relies heavily on OFDM (the basis
of LTE and Wi-Fi) but is a new de-
sign with flexibility and scalability
to meet new requirements. New
wireless technologies includ-
ing mmWave and massive MIMO
are key to the new 5G air inter-
face.
Flexible network architecture:
5G relies on NFV and SDN to cre-
ate a more distributed and flexi-
ble network architecture. The aim
is to use virtualization to provide
different devices and services us-
ing network slices containing
the requisite network features
and functionality. The aim of 5G
is to deliver different levels of per-
formance such as throughput
and latency across a common
infrastructure.
Multi-connectivity framework:
5G will build on existing features
Security
5G Insights
Insights Analyst
such as carrier aggregation and
LTE Direct to allow deeper inte-
gration of different networks and
devices. Devices will connect
simultaneously to multiple net-
works and will aggregate spec-
trum and services opportunisti-
cally. Devices will also become
key parts of the network and
connect directly to other devices
to expand coverage and improve
reliability.
The flexibility of the new system
will support a variety of new business
models. For example: once network
features or slices are customized
to specific devices and/or services,
different network slices will carry dif-
ferent costs. By extension, services
like Netflix that demand higher levels
of speed and quality from the network
must pay a premium as long as this
complies with net neutrality regula-
tions. This could help operators fulfill
their longstanding ambition of getting
OTT players to help pay for networks
as all devices and services will effec-
tively be going through the middle
(TTM) of 5G networks via their own
customized network slices.
Beware 5G hype...
Companies across the mobile
industry are hard at work develop-
ing 5G technology, but its still three
years until the initial 5G standard is
finalized, and five years until 5G ser-
vices launch. But were already see-
ing 5G reality clouded by 5G hype
for example, Ericsson recently
released a forecast that 5G will have
150 million subscriptions globally
at the end of 2021, just a year after
services are set to launch. For the
forecast, however, Ericsson defines
a 5G subscription as follows: A 5G
subscription requires a device capa-
ble of supporting LTE Evolved or NX,
connected to a 5G-enabled network,
supporting new use cases. NX is de-
fined as the new radio access tech-
nology for 5G. This definition means
that the vast majority of early 5G
subscriptions will actually be via
4G LTE Evolved devices, given that
one of the early barriers to adoption
of 5G will be limited availability of 5G
devices.
This method of defining a 5G
subscription makes sense as 5G
will rely heavily on 4G and its evolu-
tions but inflates the early potential
for 5G. A more traditional definition
of a 5G subscription would be some-
thing like: a 5G commercial device
connecting to a 5G commercial net-
work. Similarly, a 4G subscription
is commonly accepted as a 4G LTE
commercial device connecting to a
4G LTE commercial network. HSPA+,
Newswire
View 17
which is an evolution of 3G, has been
marketed as 4G in some regions, but
we should not let marketing claims
change the reality that HSPA+ is not
actually 4G.
...and IoT hype
5G will be the first system built
from the ground up with the IoT in
mind, but beware the massive hype
of the IoT market. In 2009, Ericsson
issued its famous prediction that
there will be 50 billion connected de-
vices worldwide by 2020, a forecast
echoed by other vendors such as
Cisco. However, in June of this year
Ericsson redefined its forecast and
revised it down to 26 billion connect-
ed devices by 2020. Then in Novem-
ber the group refined the forecast to
28 billion connected devices in 2021.
Different groups have very differ-
ent approaches and methodologies
to address the challenge of forecast-
ing connected-device numbers. But
cutting a forecast roughly in half sug-
gests an element of hype in the initial
forecast. And if companies used the
initial forecast to build their business
cases, what happens to those busi-
ness cases (and overall businesses)
when half the expected market dis-
appears?
Ovum does not have an overall
forecast comparable to Ericssons,
but our forecast for cellular M2M
connections can be compared to one
segment of the Ericsson connected
devices forecast. Ovum projects that
cellular M2M connections globally
will increase from 297 million in 2015
to 660 million in 2020, while Ericsson
expects devices with cellular M2M
connections to increase from 400
million in 2015 to 1.5 billion in 2021. n
Mike Roberts is practice
leader for the Americas at Ovum
18 Advertorial 5G Insights

M-ICT is the foundation for

5G and the digital society
ZTEs 5G strategy is focused on three key areas:
In order to comply with the interconnection of all things, ZTE is implementing its M-ICT strategy, making full use of the
advantages of enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) and gradually expanding them to the IoT field.
ZTE is focused on research of practical 5G technologies, leading in 5G commercialization progress, and providing competi-
tive product solutions for carriers.
ZTE also supports open cooperation with academic and industry organizations, adopting the combined mode of technical
research, prototype verification, and standard layout.

ZTES Achievements in 5G
1. Excellent achievement in the commercial progress of Massive MIMO
While other vendors are still demonstrating the ca- the Pre5G Massive MIMO base station in the Tianhe
pability of Massive MIMO with lab prototypes, ZTE has business district in Guangzhou. The performance re-
already released the worlds first commercial-oriented sults of the Massive MIMO base station were quite
Pre5G Massive MIMO base station. With precise beam exciting up to 4 times cell throughput gain was ob-
forming capability and advanced space division multi- served, and cell edge users enjoyed 6 to 8 times access
plexing, the Pre5G Massive MIMO base station can im- speeds. We believe that via close cooperation between
prove the cell throughput by 4 to 6 times and effectively ZTE and mobile operators such as CMCC and Soft-
solve the challenge of booming data traffic. bank, subscribers could enjoy an extreme network surf-
In October 2015, ZTE and China Mobile (CMCC) ing experience very soon.
successfully completed a comprehensive field test of
Security
5G Insights
Insights Advertorial
Newswire 19

2. Remarkable Progress in UAI (Unified Air Interface)

ZTE has made significant progress in developing a
Unified Air Interface. It is no longer a simple combination
of 5G technologies, but a clear and complete logical ar-
chitecture. It can meet the requirements of diverse 5G
industry applications based on a unified infrastructure
and flexible software configuration, and is compatible to
full-band deployments from 700 MHz to 60 GHz.
Here are the key features of the Unified Air Interface:
In the bottom layer, we have introduced unified wave-
form design and a scalable frame structure, to meet the
diverse requirements of different services and full-band
deployment via intelligent adoption of software param-
eters. For physical-layer technologies that cannot be uni-
fied, we implement them in the form of resource pools
and fulfill the dynamic scheduling of specific services.
The middle layers enable flexible network slicing and
elastic resource allocation according to the service type
and real-time traffic.
The introduction of service-awareness functions in
the top layer can help to achieve dynamic and intelligent
service awareness and traffic aggregation.
In the long term, the introduction of a carrier-grade
operating system will enable fast, on-demand genera-
tion of logical network slicing according to the demands
of as-yet-unknown services. We believe this could serve
the booming development of new business in the 5G era.

3. Other Achievements in 5G technologies

Besides the above achievements, ZTE has also seen initial successes in technologies such as FDD Massive MIMO,
Smooth Virtual Cell in an Ultra Dense Network scenario (a user-centric network concept instead of a cell-centric
network, in which the network dynamically traces the location of the subscriber and delivers the best real-time per-
formance with dynamic forming or reforming of virtual cells and the coordinative efforts of the surrounding cells),
Multiple User Shared Access, Cloud Aware Soft Network etc.

Open Cooperation
ZTE is an important participant and contributor in global 5G technical and standard research activity.
As the core member of Chinas IMT-2020 (5G) Promotion Group, ZTE is the leader of two work groups, and takes
over 30 percent of important 5G research projects, such as 5G network architecture research, IEEE-oriented 5G tech-
nology research, study of breakthrough physical layer technologies, etc.
In 2015, ZTE joined Horizon 2020, an EU-funded program. Due to our excellent contribution to 5G, especially with
Pre5G Massive MIMO, ZTE has signed strategic cooperation agreements with DT, CMCC, Softbank, Korea Telecom
and UMobile, and has established extensive partnerships with worldwide operators and universities.
With M-ICT as the foundation, 5G technologies will take human beings into the digital society and interconnec-
tion of all things. ZTE will continuously work hard in 5G and welcome the fully-connected M-ICT era with our global
customers. n
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