On 26 February 2016 the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) group engaged with developing International Mobile Telecommunication (IMT) systems – ITU-R Working Party 5D – met in Beijing, China, to further develop IMT-2020, the standard for 5G mobile systems.
This was the first meeting of ITU-R Working Party 5D following the decision of the World Radiocommunication Conference 2015 (WRC-15) to identify and harmonize spectrum for operation of IMT systems in frequency bands below 6 GHz. WRC-15 also requested ITU-R to study potential use of additional spectrum above 6 GHz for IMT, and the results of those studies will be considered at the next WRC in 2019.
ITU is continuing to work closely with administrations, network operators, equipment manufacturers and national and regional standardization organizations to include today’s 5G research and development activities in the IMT-2020 global standard for mobile broadband communications.
“Following additional spectrum allocations for mobile during the World Radiocommunication Conference in late 2015, ITU is continuing to work in close collaboration with governments and the global mobile industry to make rapid progress in bringing the vision of IMT-2020 to fruition,” said ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao. “Future steps in 5G mobile technology are aimed at a new paradigm of connectivity among people and things in a smart, networked environment encompassing big data, applications, transport systems and urban centers.”
This successful collaboration of the ITU membership brought together a large number of participants and experts to take forward the work on IMT-2020 and the coordination of the international standardization for 5G systems.
“5G has already become the research and development focus of global industry,” said Liu Lihua, Vice Minister, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) of the People’s Republic of China. “The development of IMT-2020 is speeding up and the ITU-R WP5D is playing a key role in international standardization and global spectrum issues related to 5G.” He added that MIIT has launched R&D trials, which will support key 5G technologies, improve technical solutions, and develop international standards.