May 10, 2016

The following article considers the path to 5G - concluding that the new radio from 3GPP will initially embrace LTE as the anchor technology - prior to the industry moving to full blown 5G. 

A personal view - by Keith Mallinson - for 3GPP:

The introduction of 5G will be as much the result of relentless and extensive improvements in LTE as it is a technology revolution. While the prospect of a next generation network opens up possibilities for quite dramatic changes, such as an entirely new air interface (i.e. other than OFDMA-based) or fixed transport layer (e.g. based on Information Centric Networking (ICN) rather than IP), it also prompts development of numerous incremental improvements. Many of these are already in the pipeline for development, standardisation and deployment.

Whether one calls it 4.5G, pre5G or uses the official 3GPP term LTE-Advanced Pro; standard-compliant LTE technology that builds upon current and completed 3GPP Releases (8-14), along with the first drop of New Radio air interface features with Release 15 in 2018, will form 5G in its Phase 1 deployments commencing 2020. Compliance with ITU’s IMT-2020 requirements is not anticipated until the completion of 3GPP Release 16 at the end of 2019.