5G - Fifth generation of mobile technologies

• Consumer demands are shaping the development of mobile broadband services. Anticipated increases in traffic (estimated as 10-100 times over the period 2020 – 2030), growth in the number of devices and services, as well as demand for enhanced affordability and user experience will all require innovative solutions. The number of connected devices on the Internet is projected to reach 50 billion any time from 2025 onwards.
• The fifth generation of mobile technologies - 5G - connects people, things, data, applications, transport systems and cities in smart networked communication environments. The networks transport a huge amount of data much faster, reliably connect an extremely large number of devices and process very high volumes of data with minimal delay.
• 5G technologies support applications such as smart homes and buildings, smart cities, 3D video, work and play in the cloud, remote medical services, virtual and augmented reality, and massive machine-to-machine communications for industry automation. Legacy 3G and 4G networks face challenges in supporting these services.
• Although the business cases and scope of use present challenges, these new functionalities and new services necessitate a new way of deploying advanced mobile services, as well as new approaches in making 5G technologies work together in industrial settings by machine-to-machine communications, Internet of Things (IoT) or with connected vehicles.
• ITU plays a leading role in managing the radio spectrum and developing globally applicable standards for IMT-2020. ITU is working towards providing stable international regulations, sufficient spectrum and suitable standards for IMT-2020 and the core network to enable successful 5G deployments at the regional and international levels. At the ITU World Radiocommunication Conference 2019 (WRC-19 ), global stakeholders built consensus to identify additional spectrum for IMT-2020. 
• The first edition of the IMT-2020 specifications, the name used in ITU for the standards of 5G, has been published in February 2021 (ITU-R M.2150). Since then, more than 200 commercial launches across the world and more than 1200 announced devices (at least 870 commercially available) can be noted.

• Initially, three technologies were approved as meeting IMT-2020 specifications: 3GPP 5G-SRIT, 3GPP 5G-RIT, and 5Gi.
• Two, provided by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), represent the well-known “standalone- (SA)", 3GPP 5G-RIT, and “non-standalone- (NSA)", 3GPP 5G-SRIT, 5G deployment models, of which the 5G-SA has a completely new RAN- and core-architecture, without the necessity of an underlying 4G-network.
• 5Gi provided by Telecommunications Standards Development Society India (TSDSI) is an updated version of 3GPP 5G-RIT, designed mainly to improve rural coverage.
  
  In February 2022, a fourth technology called DECT 5G-SRIT was designated as meeting the standard. Due to the non-cellular and autonomous, decentralized technology, it supports a range of use-cases, from wireless telephony and audio streaming to industrial Internet of Things (IoT) applications, particularly in smart cities. 
• ITU has initiated the development of IMT for 2030 and beyond, setting the stage for new research activities. ITU-R Working Party 5D, tasked with studying IMT systems, has started to consider the future requirements for the global uptake of the next generation of international mobile telecommunication. The next World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-23) hosted by the United Arab Emirates will address further aspects of IMT systems, among other topics.
• 5G and next generations of mobile networks, intends to accelerate the achievement of all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), from affordable and clean energy to zero hunger. ​
  

Deployed 5G networks deliver more speed and capacity to support massive machine-to-machine communications and to provide low-latency (delay), high-reliability service for time-critical applications. Based on the numerous existing, commercial networks, IMT-2020 demonstrates high performance in different scenarios such as dense urban areas and indoor hotspots.

With its ambitious goals, 5G networks faced considerable challenges. The increased capacity and data rates enabled by 5G may require more spectrum and vastly more spectrally efficient technologies, beyond what is used in 3G and 4G systems.

Some of this additional spectrum will come from frequency bands above 24 GHz, which pose considerable challenges. The first challenge refers to the intrinsic propagation characteristics of this part of the spectrum (a.k.a. millimeter waves).  These radio waves propagate over much shorter distances than those of medium- (between 1-6 GHz) and low- (below 1 GHz) frequency bands.

Hence, coverage of a given area will require a significantly increased number of base stations that will increase the complexity of the infrastructure, including the need to deploy radio equipment on street facilities, such as traffic lights, lampposts, utility poles and power supplies.

Another challenge relates to 5G connection links between base stations and the core network (backhaul), which rely both on fiber and wireless technologies. Considerable work is required for implementing fiber services and ensuring availability of wireless backhaul solutions with sufficient capacity, such as microwave and satellite links, and potentially with high-altitude platform stations (HAPS) systems where they are deployed.

Furthermore, spectrum is a scarce and very valuable resource, and there is intense – and intensifying – competition for spectrum at the national, regional and international levels. As the radio spectrum is divided into frequency bands allocated to different radiocommunication services, each band should be used only by the allocated services with established technical condition so that they can coexist with each other without creating harmful interference to adjacent services.

ITU-R studies examine the sharing and compatibility of mobile services with a number of other existing radiocommunication services, notably the services used for satellite communications, weather forecasting, monitoring of Earth resources and climate change and radio astronomy.

National and international regulations need to be adopted and applied globally to avoid interference between 5G and these services and to create a viable mobile ecosystem for the future — while reducing prices through the global market's economies of scale and enabling interoperability and roaming.

That's why it was important for the spectrum used by 5G to be identified and harmonized at global and regional levels. For similar reasons, the radio technologies used in 5G devices need to be supported by globally harmonized standards.

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ITU plays a leading role in managing the radio spectrum and developing globally applicable standards for IMT-2020. Its activities and the resulting, globally applicable documents, enable the development and implementation of international regulations and standards to ensure that 5G networks are secure, interoperable, and that they operate without causing or receiving harmful interference to or from adjacent services.

Based on its experience designing standards for International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) in 3G and 4G, ITU regularly brings together the leading engineers and experts in mobile and fixed backhaul technologies to work on 5G and future generations of mobile broadband services.

Under ITU's IMT-2020 programme, ITU membership is developing the international standards to achieve well-performing 5G networks.​

Last update: April 2022 ​