Newsletter 19

5G status in Europe

5G is heating up in the world. Elisa in Finland lighted its network in June 2018. The number of alive 5G networks has significantly increased in Europe in 2019.

The launch of 5G commercial services by Orange Romania in October 2019 was the last one in Europe in 2019. It means that a total of 16 players have launched commercial 5G services as at year-end 2019 in 11 EU Member States. One in three EU Member States enjoyed 5G commercial services as at year-end 2019.

The UK is the only full5G EU country with all players providing 5G commercial services. In six countries (Austria, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Romania and the UK), 5G services are proposed by two players or more.

5G status in Asia Pacific

5G is heating up in the world. Business 5G services were launched in South Korea on December 1st, 2018.

The launch of 5G commercial services by Vodafone in December 2019 was the last one in Asia Pacific in 2019. It means that a total of 9 players have launched commercial 5G services as at year-end 2019 in 4 Asian countries.  South Korea is the first Asia Full5G country where all players proposed 5G services simultaneously. In China, all three major players launched 5G services. China Broadcasting Network received permission to operate 5G services early January 2020.

Adoption in China appears to be massive.

Key take-aways from WRC-19

Under Agenda Item 1.13, delegates agreed to make frequencies in very high bands such as the 26 GHz (24.25-27.5 GHz), 40 GHz (37-43.5 GHz), 45.5-47 GHz, 47.2-48.2 GHz  and 66-71 GHz available for 5G services and to protect existing radio usages. In total, 17.25 GHz of spectrum has been identified for IMT. Out of this number, 14.75 GHz of spectrum has been harmonized worldwide, reaching 85% of global harmonization.

• The 26 GHz (24.25-27.5 GHz) band was identified for 5G. Long-term protection of the EESS in the frequency band 23.6-24 GHz was considered as vital for weather prediction and disaster management (resolution 750). European satellites concerned are those from the Copernicus programme and those from the European Agency Eumetsat.
  • It was thus decided that unwanted emissions of 5G stations brought into use before 1 September 2027 shall thus adopt an out-of-band emission limit of:
    •  -33 dBW in any 200 MHz of the passive EESS band for 5G base stations until September 1^st, 2027.
    • After 1 September 2027, the limit will be more restrictive, to -39 dBW in any 200 MHz. This new more restrictive limit will apply only to new 5G sites.
  • In Europe, technical conditions are based on the work performed by CEPT and ITU-R.  The unwanted emission power level is considered in terms of TRP. TRP is to be understood as the integral of the poser transmitted from all antenna elements in different directions over the entire radiation sphere. The RSPG is now considering an amendment of Decision EU 2019/784 (-42 dBW in any 200 MHz for each base station and -38 dBW in any 200 MHz for each terminal) to consider this outcome.

• The bands 45.5-47 GHz and 47.2-48.2 GHz were also identified for 5G usage in certain countries, mainly outside Europe.
• The existing identification of the band 4800-4990 MHz for IMT applications was extended to some additional countries, while maintaining the existing conditions for protection of other services in the band.
• WRC-19 also agreed new rules to increase global access to connectivity and broadband communications through new satellite technologies
• The agenda for the next WRC-23 was agreed under AI 10.  Among the 19 Agenda Items, AI 1.2, AI1.3 and AI 1.5 deal with IMT. AI 1.2 will consider IMT identifications in 3300-3400 MHz (footnote to be amended in Region 1, Region 2), 3600-3800 MHz (Region 2), 6425-7025 MHz (Region 1), 7025-7125 MHz (global), 10000-10500 MHz (Region 2). AI 1.3 will consider primary mobile allocation in 3600-3800 MHz (Region 1). AI 1.5 will review 470-960 MHz in Region 1.

Spectrum for 5G private networks

Spectrum for 5G has already been assigned in many countries. Some countries are about to assign. In some cases, regulators decided to assign spectrum locally to private networks or campuses. These developments open the window to operate without MNO involvement. Many of the installed private LTE networks are already independent from the MNO spectrum. With new spectrum becoming available to non-MNOs, private networks could expend widely, and enhance competition. In Europe, Sweden, Germany, and the UK set aside spectrum to regional/local networks.

BNetzA in Germany released 100 MHz of spectrum at 3.7-3.8 GHz to industry for local operations.

Sweden also proposed to reserve 100 MHz for local licences at 3.7-3.8 GHz.

In the UK, Ofcom will dedicate spectrum in the 3.8-4.2 GHz frequencies for private and shared networks. The lower part of the 26 GHz band is also expected to be made available for private and shared access.

In Asia, the trend is growing up. Japan announced in December 2019 it will join Hong Kong and Australia and allocate spectrum for private 5G networks in the 3.7, 26 and 28 GHz bands. The 5g private networks in Japan would be limited in area and use spectrum that is not currently used by MNOs. Japan expects private networks launches before March 2020.

5G PPP White Papers

5G PPP projects released many White Papers in the last past year:

• The 5G Media Slice Definition White Paper is the outcome of a joined working group set up between the two European Technology Platforms, New European Media (NEM) and Networld2020. The objective was to combine expertise from the media sector which brought application requirements and the network domain which brought expertise in 5G.
• The 5G ESSENCE White Paper for UC1 (Stadium scenario) aims at providing an insight of the current Edge Network Acceleration in a Crowded Event and how the activities developed by the 5G ESSENCE Use Case 1 (UC1) can bring into life the Next Generation of content delivery.
• The purpose of the 5G ESSENCE White Paper for UC3 (IFEC scenario) is to provide an insight of the current In-Flight Entertainment and Communications (IFEC) system and how the activities developed by the 5G ESSENCE Use Case 3 (UC3) can bring into life the Next Generation (NG) of IFEC systems.
• The 5G PPP TMV WG (Test, Measurement and KPIs Validation Working Group) released its first White Paper on “Validating 5G Technology Performance – Assessing 5G architecture and Application Scenarios”. This White Paper tries to be a first step into providing a more clear and homogeneous view over these topics, that will be briefly introduced and clarified. The idea is to establish a unified vision on the Test and Measurement topics for 5G, allowing for common procedures and terminology on how to solve some of these challenging problems.
• The 5G Architecture Working group released its 5G Architecture White Paper Revision 3.0. The first version of the white paper was released in July 2016, which captured novel trends and key technological enablers for the realization of the 5G architecture vision along with harmonized architectural concepts from 5G PPP Phase 1 projects and initiatives. Capitalizing on the architectural vision and framework set by the first version of the white paper, the Version 2.0 of the white paper was released in January 2018 and presented the latest findings and analyses of 5G PPP Phase I projects along with the concept evaluations. The work has continued with the 5G PPP Phase II and Phase III projects with special focus on understanding the requirements from vertical industries involved in the projects and then driving the required enhancements of the 5G Architecture able to meet their requirements. The results of the Working Group are now captured in this Version 3.0, which presents the consolidated European view on the architecture design.
• The 5G PPP Automotive WG released its 2nd White Paper “Business Feasibility Study for 5G V2X Deployment”. With respect to the first version, this paper includes further work and enhancements that targets the description of the 5G V2X ecosystem and stakeholder relationships, different sharing models for network infrastructure, as well as a business setup and finally a techno-economic assessment of the investment.
• The 5G PPP Automotive WG also published its Initial Proposal on how 5G Strategic Deployment can support Connected and Automotive Mobility (CAM) in Europe. This 5G Automotive WG Paper is an Initial Proposal showing how the 5G Strategic Deployment Agenda can reach out towards a broader range of potential stakeholders in the area of connected and automated mobility in Europe.
• The 5G PPP Sotfware Network Working Group issued its 5G PPP Software Network White Paper:”Cloud-Native and Verticals’ services –5G-PPP projects analysis”. The paper analyses how 5G PPP projects interpret Cloud-Native design patterns and identify adoption barriers.

MWC Barcelona 2020

The next MWC Barcelona is scheduled from February 24 to 27, 2020.

The 3 ICT-17 infrastructure projects 5G EVE, 5G-VINNI, 5GENESIS, and the 5G IA will be at the stand 7K39 in Hall 7. The 3 projects will showcase amazing demos.

Information and publications on other 5G PPP projects, the overall 5G PPP programme and on the 5G IA will be available at the stand.

6G Wireless Summit

Hannover Messe

NGMN Industry Conference and Exhibition 2020

NGMN will be hosting its eighth Industry Conference & Exhibition, taking place on 21st to 23rd April 2020 in Paris, France. Registration for this event focusing on “The Unique Journey to 5G Commercial Success” is now open. Please visit the website for more information: https://ice2020.ngmn.org

5G Forum

IEEE ICC 5G LTE-IC 2020 CfP

ICC WS-04: 5G LTE-IC 2020

5G-DRIVE is organising a workshop on 5G Long Term Evolution and Intelligent Communication in conjunction with IEEE ICC 2020 and has published a CfP.

(http://info.ee.surrey.ac.uk/CCSR/IWSDN/)

Workshop Scope:

The next generation wireless networks, i.e., 5G and beyond, autonomous vehicle networks, will be extremely dynamic and complex due to the ultra-densely deployed wireless networks. These introduce many critical challenges for signal processing, network planning and operation, network management etc. Meanwhile, generation and consumption of wireless data are becoming increasingly distributed with ongoing paradigm shift from people-centric to machine-oriented communications, making the operation of future wireless networks even more complex. To mitigate the complexity of future wireless network operation, new approaches of intelligently utilizing distributed computational resources with improved context-awareness becomes extremely important. In this regard, the edge computing architecture aiming to distribute computing, storage, control, communication, and networking functions closer to end uses, have a great potential for enabling efficient operation of future wireless networks. Such promising architectures make the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) principles, which incorporate learning, reasoning and decision-making mechanism, as natural choices for designing a tightly integrated network.

5GPPP@CLEEN 2020

CLEEN 2020 calls for papers!

This new edition CLEEN2020 workshop will be organized with a more creative format, conceived with the particular aim to generate lively interactions and foster new ideas. In particular, current shape of the programme agenda is including the Open Forum “Distributed Computing beyond 5G”, that will provide an interactive discussion platform for all stakeholders (from practitioners to experienced researchers and industry leaders), with the aim to encourage collaboration and stimulate a lively interaction, to identify open challenges and research gaps toward new systems (even beyond 5G).

The workshop is planned to be a full-day event and has the following programme agenda:

Do not hesitate to visit us regularly. The detailed CfP can be downloaded here. The workshop programme will be updated here.

5G PPP @EuCNC 2020

This edition is the 29th edition of a successful series of a conference in the field of telecommunications, sponsored by the IEEE Communications Society and the European Association for Signal Processing, and supported by the European Commission. The conference focuses on various aspects of 5G communications systems and networks, including cloud and virtualisation solutions, management technologies, and vertical application areas. It targets to bring together researchers from all over the world to present the latest research results, and it is one of the main venues for demonstrating the results of research projects, especially from successive European R&D programmes co-financed by the European Commission.

5G PPP projects will take the opportunity of this event to share key results and outputs.

Additional information on 5G PPP presence will come soon.

8th Global 5G Event

The Global 5G Event is a unique series of summits organized by the world’s leading 5G organizations committed to bringing 5G technology successfully to their country or region. It has been developed in the framework of a multilateral Memorandum of Understanding in the interest of building global consensus on 5G and achieving efficiencies in the roll-out of 5G technology between 5G IA (EU), 5G Americas, 5G Forum (Korea), 5G MF (Japan), 5G Brasil and IMT-2020 (China). Here comes the 8th edition.

The 2-day event will include a one day and a half conference and one half-day technical tour.

Additional information on 5G PPP presence will come soon.