10/02/2020

In the  “ICT Industry Trend Conference 2020” held on January 8, 2020 in Beijing, Ms. HUANG Yuhong, Vice President of the China Mobile Research Institute, delivered a speech on the development of 5G standardization, introducing its latest development and proposing China Mobile’s standardization demands.

 

As for the development of 5G standardization, Ms. Huang stated that the accomplishments of 3GPP R15 standards has enabled 5G to enter the stage of large-scale commercial use in 2019; and also pointed out that “The first batch of 5G standards (R15) can preliminarily meet the needs of some first-movers in the early stage of 5G commercialization, but more improved 5G standards are necessary to meet the diversified industrial demands”. To further facilitate the industry’s development, 3GPP is currently formulating the R16 standards and has determined the first batch of standard projects for R17 in December 2019.

 

Based on the work plan of 3GPP and China Mobile’s standardization demands, Ms. HUANG pointed out three main areas to focus on for 5G standardization work in 2020.

  1. Meet the diversified needs from multi-scenarios in vertical industries. R16 standards will improve time delay, reliability, and synchro error performance for the “uRLLC + industrial internet” scenario; R17 standards will enhance the flexibility of private/local area networks to realize the remote configuration of terminals; NR V2X is expected to support L3/L4 automatic drive; R17 will also support light-weight class and low cost terminals.
  2. Enhance 5G network capabilities, such as positioning, XR service capability enhancement, and direct communication between multi-media BCMCS and terminals. R17 will improve the accuracy and time delay performance of vertical positioning. Foreseeing the boost of video services like HD video and VR/AR, China Mobile is promoting multi-media BCMCS standardization.
  3. Develop 5G intelligent network, expand network boundaries, and improve network performance. “To promote the development of the 5G industry, the R16 and R17 standards should be developed to continuously improve 5G network functions and accelerate the integration with various vertical industries; more, higher, and currently unauthorized frequency bands, including the 6GHz frequency band, should be considered for allocating to 5G”, Huang suggested.

 

In the end, Ms. Huang concluded that demands are the key to lead 5G standardization. “Identifying new problems and demands from the early stage application of 5G, network operators should continuously iterate and improve 5G commercial networks and standards to better support the network’s intelligent operation, capacity development and integration with vertical industries”. Specifically, network operators should carry out standardization for network intellectualization and automation, and the diversification of bearer services to reduce operation costs and raise operation efficiency; expand standardization work to more communication scenarios, more powerful communication capability, and higher communication frequency bands; and develop standards to meet the application requirements in vertical industries.

 

As one of the only four licensed operators for the 5G network in China, China Mobile plays an important role in China’s 5G commercial use and is a leading organization in China’s 5G standardization. The organization’s standardization demands are very likely to be transformed to standard projects. Since most of China’s 5G standardization work takes place in the 3GPP platform, it can be inferred that promoting the development and conversion of 3GPP standards in these areas will be the focus of the organization in the coming year. In addition, with 5G large-scale commercial use rolling out, demands for 5G standards will increase substantially. The trend will no doubt speed up the process.