Telcos are hardly done presenting 5G networks– and they’re currently speaking about ‘5.5 G’

BARCELONA, Spain– Telecom operators have not yet ended up presenting 5G cordless mobile networks. And yet managers of significant providers are currently speaking about constructing something called “5.5G,” or “5G Advanced.”

There was a great deal of chatter about 5.5 G at the Mobile World Congress tech trade convention in Barcelona, Spain.

MWC combined countless individuals in the mobile market, consisting of from leading telecom business like Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefonica, BT, and Vodafone

At the program, executives from a few of these business that they were pursuing presenting a brand-new generation of mobile web.

That would make it possible for a lot more innovative applications than the data-intensive apps we have actually all pertained to utilize today, such as Facebook, Instagram, You Tube, Netflix, and TikTo k.

These apps are currently well served by the present mobile web, however in the future 5.5 G is anticipated to power advanced applications.

That consists of blended truth headsets, which are getting increasingly more effective with tech giants like Apple releasing its Apple Vision Pro and Meta updating with its Meta Quest Pro headset in 2015.

But it likewise indicates a few of the important things that 5G guaranteed us years back, such as self-driving vehicles, unpiloted air taxis, and wise production allowed through the so-called web of things (IoT), will begin to come true, too.

5G is the next generation of mobile web after 4G, which guarantees superfast information speeds and much better protection.

You most likely keep in mind mobile network operators raving about the guarantee of 5G a number of years back. Carriers in China, South Korea, the United States, and Europe, effectively got underway with launches of 5G networks in 2019.

Now, almost 5 years on, penetration of 5G amongst customers stays low.

The variety of customers with a 5G connection is increasing. But it’s still well listed below “mainstream” levels.

5G has actually been the fastest mobile generation rollout to date, exceeding 1 billion connections by the end of 2022, increasing to 1.6 billion connections at the end of 2023 and 5.5 billion by 2030.

5G connections are anticipated to represent over half (51%) of mobile connections by 2029, however, which is anticipated to then increase 56% by2030 Those numbers depend on date since January 2024, GSMAi stated.

5G has actually been placed by the telecoms market not simply as a customer item for faster download speeds, however as a network that might underpin brand-new innovations like driverless vehicles or unpiloted air taxis.

That’s since it has lower latency than 4G. That indicates the time it considers gadgets to speak to each other is substantially decreased, a function crucial in situations where information requires to be provided rapidly.

However, after numerous billions of dollars of financial investment into 5G networks, providers have actually struggled to see the return. Analysts state that the genuine capacity to generate income from 5G may be on the horizon.

5G Advanced, or the name for the next phase of 5G, is the next advancement of mobile networks.

Telecommunications networks need requirements. These are internationally accepted technical guidelines that specify how an innovation works and its interoperability around the globe– interoperability is the capability for 2 or more systems to interact.

These requirements take a number of years to come up with and complete and include a number of gamers from business to academics and market bodies.

The standards-setting body 3GPP, which added to 5G, utilizes a system of parallel “releases” to offer designers with a platform to carry out brand-new functions at a provided point and after that enable more performance to come in more releases.

In the 3GPP launches system, 5G is thought about release17 That indicates 5.5 G is called “release 18” by the market.

Release 19 is what will successfully be 6G, another significant network upgrade. Work is likewise underway on 6G requirements, however it’s still in the early phases.

“Main priorities for developing 5G Advanced standards are to increase commercial relevance of 5G by expanding vertical markets, resolve deployment issues, and continue technology evolution to build a bridge towards 6G,” Milind Kulkarni, vice president and head of In terDigital’s cordless laboratories, informed CNBC.

“Research in standards have introduced, improved, and finalized several new enterprise-specific features for 5G Advanced, including network slicing, the integration of private and public networks, enhanced positioning, and even applications specific to each enterprise vertical.”

Howard Watson, the primary innovation officer of British telco huge BT, stated that 5.5 G will assure much faster uplink speeds, implying you’ll have the ability to stream video, post things online, and play multiplayer video games, much faster than in the past.

“My children’s generation, or even dare I say it, my grandchild’s generation … that generation, they share a lot. And clearly, sharing requires quite a lot of upstream,” Watson informed CNBC on the sidelines of MWC. “There will probably be a doubling of upstream capacities coming in release 18.”

Further advantages to 5G Advanced over present 5G, telco officers state, is that it will make the networks themselves more “intelligent” through the application of AI and artificial intelligence, while likewise increasing efficiency and minimizing total power usage.

Mats Granryd, director general of the GSMA, informed CNBC he hopes the market can continue concentrating on remaining in a 5G environment for many years to come, as there’s still a lot of work to be done on money making.

“I hope that we can stay in 5G territory for long, because normally in the 4G environment, you and I were the consumers. And it’s quite quick for us to just say, change a SIM card,” Granryd informed CNBC’s KarenTso “In 5G, 5G is a technology standard that is predominantly towards business to business. And it takes a longer time for businesses to convert and use new technology.”

“This normal of 10 years between standards, I wonder if that’s going to be enough,” Granryd included. “We hope that we can stay in a 5G environment. 5G advanced — 5G standalone, that’s absolutely fine. But push out the time and make sure that we have enough mileage to capitalize and monetize and show the world that 5G is a fantastic technology.”

With 5G Advanced, telecoms companies might begin to make more cash from their 5G rollouts by charging greater costs. And, with a crucial focus of 5G being business applications, that might be a far more substantial cash maker for network operators than customers.

Telcos have not yet exposed just how much more a 5G Advanced information strategy will cost compared to 5G. But experts anticipate they’ll want to earn money from 5G Advanced by getting smart about memberships and utilizing AI and other innovations to run their networks more effectively.

With a crucial focus of 5G being business applications, that might be a far more substantial cash maker for network operators than customers.

The telco market has actually been awash with speak about so-called “private 5G” networks, nonpublic mobile networks that are set up on-premise at business’ work websites for instance, in a clever factory, or remote surgical treatment operation.

Chinese telecom devices provider Huawei anticipates 2024 to be the year that business implementations of 5G Advanced formally start. For Huawei, 5.5 G is a network that will can 10 Gbps downlink speeds– and in case you’re questioning, yes, that is really quickly.

Huawei exposed 8 5.5 G “innovation practices” recently which it states will assist operators develop 5.5 G networks throughout all frequency bands. The business is dealing with providers in the Middle East, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America to release 5.5 G.

It’s going to take some convincing for customers to go from 5G to 5G Advanced, offered the little visible enhancement they have actually seen from their phones updating to 5G in the previous 5 years. But Philip Song, Huawei’s chief marketing officer of the provider service group, stated that it is essential telcos communicate the usage cases of 5G Advanced to customers well.

“The most important thing for us is how can we support the customers,” he stated at a press instruction last Tuesday, in action to a CNBC concern. The “biggest success” for 5.5 G will just get here if providers “acknowledge solutions” and bring that throughout to consumers adequately.

In some markets, operators are still dealing with releasing 4G, Song stated– however he does not believe that matters since various parts of the world “are at different stages.”

Watson informed CNBC that he believes 5G Advanced will get here on the EE network later on this year. That’s since the 3GPP basic release 18, or 5.5 G, is currently open for experimentation and telcos have actually been dealing with trials. It is anticipated to conclude by June 2024, by which time the procedures that make it possible for 5.5 G ought to be steady.

“Release 18 we will start to roll out this year,” Watson informed CNBC. “We also plan to launch 5G standalone this year as well.”

5G standalone is various from 5GAdvanced Sometimes described as “true” 5G, it describes the advancement of a 5G network that utilizes innovation independent of 4G and includes the guarantee of understanding 5G’s complete capacity.

5G Advanced, on the other hand, is a total advancement of the network.

There’s no conclusive date for when 5G Advanced will begin to be presented, however. And telcos are on the clock to get it up and running.

“I hope that we will be at the bandwidth, the latency, the capability needs to be sufficient,” Mats Granryd, director general of the GSMA, informed CNBC’s Karen Tso at MWC recently.

“That’s what we’re struggling with to see in Europe. In five years, we’re going to have a quadrupling of data usage. And I am really concerned about what’s going to happen at that stage.”

“Will we have cut-offs? Will we have congestions?” he included. “Will we have a much much worse situation, a much worse landscape? By having that worse landscape, the competitiveness of Europe will go down.”

— CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal added to this report