The first set of specifications for the next major generation of wireless technology was completed today, marking a major step towards commercial 5G.
The milestone took place in Lisbon, Portugal, at a RAN Plenary meeting of global wireless technology standards body 3GPP.
NSA 5G NR specs were approved today at RAN#78. Balazs Bertenyi , RAN Chair called it “an Impressive achievement in a remarkably short time, with credit due particularly to the Working Groups”. News article to follow on the 3GPP site and from 3GPP Member announcements. pic.twitter.com/b10fTV5V5n
— 3GPP Live (@3GPPLive) December 20, 2017
The specifications completed are for non-standalone (NSA) 5G New Radio (NR), which piggybacks on the existing LTE network and allows for large-scale trials and deployments of 5G starting in 2019.
The specifications for standalone (SA) 5G — a full 5G network with no LTE anchor — are expected to be completed in June 2018 as part of 3GPP Release 15.
3GPP has yet to publish an in-depth announcement about the new spec, so stay tuned for a more technical dive into the details.
5G is expected to usher in a new era of always-connected technology, potentially facilitating the widespread adoption of things like mixed reality and autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles through multi-gigabit-per-second speeds and super low latency.
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