ITU Defines 5G As Speed Of 20 Gbps Promising Demo By 2018

The ITU (International Telecommunication Union) has agreed to a definition for 5G communications networks. The definition that it has agreed to specifies that the future 5G networks will have speeds of at least 20 Gbps. The ITU also clarified its plan to commercialize 5G networks by 2020. The 5G network standards set forth by the ITU have been standardized globally and a Korean ministry official says that the agreement on the standard will be approved internationally.

With data speeds of at least 20 Gbps, users will be able to download one UHD movie in ten seconds. 5G networks will also be able to provide speeds of over 100 Mbps average data transfer to over a million Internet of Things devices within a square kilometer range.

The official name for 5G technology is IMT-2020, which is a sequential name that follows the IMT-2000 name for the third generation 3G network and IMT-Advanced for the fourth generation network. While the plan is to have the network commercialized by 2020, the first major demonstration of the technology will come in 2018.

ITU plans to have a demonstration network in place in time for the 2018 Winter Olympic games in PyeongChang. KT will show off 5G tech at the games as the official sponsor. Distribution of the international spectrum for the 5G network will start in 2019.

SOURCE: Korea Times