BT & Nokia collaborate on 5G development

5G will be the fifth generation of mobile network, and is expected to dramatically out-do the performance of the current 3G and 4G networks. In fact, Ericsson predict that 5G’s latency will be around one millisecond – un-perceivable to a human and about 50 times faster than 4G. Although it was estimated that 5G wouldn’t be rolled out until 2020 at the earliest, the collaboration between telecoms giant BT & mobile manufacturer Nokia may move 5G networks closer.

BT have agreed to work with Nokia on potential customer use cases for 5G technologies, the creation of 5G Proof of Concept (PoC) trials and the development of the emerging technology standards and equipment. The trials will focus on the technology enablers for 5G, as well potential commercial services including ultrafast mobile broadband, mission-critical services and the ‘Internet of Things’.

“Our EE mobile business already boasts the biggest 4G network in the UK, which is set to cover 95% of the country by 2020. We will build on that foundation to develop the next generation of LTE-Advanced Pro and 5G services over the next few years. It’s still early days for 5G technology, but experience tells us that a collaborative approach is key to success.” – Howard Watson, CEO of BT Technology, Service & Operations.

Once 5G is up and running, it will be able to carry more data, at higher speeds, and will be able to move around obstacles, giving you greater coverage. 5G is expected to be capable of delivering extremely fast data with estimates between 10 – 50 Gbit/s compared with today’s average 4G download speed of 15 Mbit/s. In fact, back in 2013 Samsung tested 5G at 1Gbps and journalists reported that a HD movie could be downloaded in less than 30 seconds. Fast track to 2014 and Samsung set a mobile speed record of 7.5Gb/s in another 5G trail, while estimates predict the speed will reach 10Gb/s, with transfer rates as high as 800Gb/s further down the line, taking your download time of a full length film to around a second!