China gets a head-start with 5G telecom trial runs

High-speed 5G networks can theoretically transmit data 20 times faster than current 4G speed, with less than one tenth of the latency, or the time for a data request to receive a reply. The 5G technologies being tested include massive multiple-antenna systems capable of handling more users and increased capacity to support greater mobile data usage, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post quoted Bernstein Research report as saying. With the world’s largest 4G market at 1.3 billion users at the end of 2015 it is on sufficient scale to “make or break” a new global 5G standard Bernstein’s senior analyst Chris Lane said. 

Almost 30 per cent of China’s 1.3 billion mobile phone users are on 4G networks, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), which regulates the sector. High-speed 5G networks can achieve theoretical speeds at up to 20 gigabits per second, much faster than the current fourth generation speed of 1 Gbps. Latency, or the time required for a request for data to receive a reply when clicking an app, is envisioned to be one millisecond or less on 5G, compared with 10 milliseconds on 4G. The consensus among global telecoms industry leaders is that a single standard - a unified set of industry benchmarks – would be enormously beneficial.