It’s a very exciting time in the evolution of 5G. In December 2017, 3G Partnership Project (3GPP) officially announced the new standards for 5G New Radio (NR), effectively setting the stage to launch full-scale and cost-effective development of 5G networks. The approved standards include support for Non-Standalone 5G, enabling an operator with an existing 4G/LTE footprint to take advantage of the performance benefits of 5G, either in new or existing spectrum to boost capacity and user throughput.

What Happens Now?

Following this vital milestone in the realization of 5G, the industry is hitting the ground running. Although the full deployment and promised 10x to 1000x capacity value add of 5G may be further down the road, the required effort and innovation to bridge the gap between existing 4G speeds and maximizing 5G’s full potential has already begun.

Similar to previous network technologies, the evolution of 5G will see many flavors throughout its life cycle. Early deployments often use straightforward hardware partitioning, useful for demonstrating the technology but not necessarily hitting the performance points set by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), which is responsible for defining what constitutes a new network generation, or “G.” For example, the 3GPP standards for 4G LTE were ratified in 2009, and within a year, the first networks were rolling out—Telia deployed their 4G LTE network in Stockholm and Oslo. Although this initial deployment was considered an incremental improvement over 3G, it set into motion profound changes for the transition to 4G LTE.