Will the Real 5G Please Stand Up?

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With 5G technologies growing by leaps and bounds, industry insiders are looking at the various innovations and standards that could be classified in the 5G realm.

Stéphane Téral, an analyst at IHS Markit, recently published a research note that said 5G should not be used to describe sub-6 GHz developments, according to IEEE Spectrum. Spectrum noted that “radio waves in the sub-6 GHz range are considered the most desirable among carriers for delivering cellular signals, because they can penetrate materials such as concrete and glass.” 800 MHz and 1.9 GHz are the most dominant in the United States, however those frequencies are becoming overused with more data demand, leading carriers to look for higher frequencies to co-opt for use. Shorter millimeter waves between 30 and 300 GHz are options, but those frequencies can’t travel far. This could mean future integration into 5G. 

Téral told Spectrum that carriers also are “focused on finding more efficient ways to deliver data on lower sub-6 GHz frequencies. They’re improving their networks through technologies such as multiple input and multiple output (MIMO), in which carriers add antennas to existing 4G base stations to handle more traffic from more users at once.” But, he said, these developments aren’t 5G, that frequencies above 6 GHz are the only frequencies that should be dubbed as 5G technology “because they would represent a paradigm shift for improving data rates and latency on future wireless networks.” He said instead, that these innovations are just “pre-5G” first steps.

Anshel Sag, 5G analyst for Moor Insight & Strategy, told Spectrum that he “thinks it’s a mistake to rule out anything other than millimeter waves as true 5G.” This includes 5G New Radio and a blend of millimeter waves and sub-6 GHz.

“I’m in the camp that doesn’t believe that millimeter wave is the only way to do 5G,” Sag told Spectrum. He sees 5G as going through all ends of the spectrum, from NarrowBand IoT to high-frequency millimeter waves.

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