5G Is Impossible without Enhanced Spectral Efficiency
5G Is Impossible without Enhanced Spectral Efficiency
  • By cheon tae-un (ctu@koreaittimes.com)
  • 승인 2014.07.19 05:55
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S. Korea’s three mobile carriers (SKT, KT and LG U+) have been jostling to get the upper hand in the fledgling market for 5G (5th generation mobile networks), which is 1,000 times faster than 4G networks.

IST Global Chairman Yang Seung-taik

 

In a situation where the three mobile carriers have competitively unveiled their ambitious plans to commercialize 5G by 2020, Yang Seung-taik, of Chairman IST Global

“The US-based Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is the world’s largest and most advanced association in the global information and communications sector. Though theses on 5G have been continuously published, internationally accredited 5G mobile communications systems are non-existent at the moment. In other words, 5G networks should be more than 1,000 times faster than 4G’s transmission speeds, but technologies enabling a 1,000-fold jump in 4G speeds have yet to be available,” Chairman Yang says.

Chairman Yang says 5G is still in its infancy although the three mobile carriers are talking big about ushering the nation into the era of 5G.

 

The nation’s mobile traffic is projected to surge, on average, 61% annually to explode tenfold in five years. If such a steep upward trajectory is maintained, data traffic would balloon 100-fold in 10 years and 1,000-fold in 15 years. A spike in mobile traffic requires more frequencies. But since frequencies are limited resources, 5G is unthinkable without scaled-up spectral efficiency, according to Chairman Yang.

 

As of now, numerous nations, including S. Korea, the EU, the US, China and Japan, are carrying out 5G projects, so S. Korea needs to zero in on preemptively obtaining key 5G technologies. What’s more, since there is a limit to raising spectral efficiency, S. Korea should tap into currently idle frequency bandwidths in order to ensure genuine 5G services, Chairman Yang says.

 

There are of course problems. First of all, which frequency bandwidths should be put to use needs to be decided. Besides, no matter how many super computers telecom operators have, it is almost impossible for them to aggregate and process all the network services, offered at 1Gbps (gigabit per second) per user, Chairman Yang says.

 

Holographic communication requires image compression technologies.

“It is said that hologram services will become available once 5G has been commercialized. Real-time holographic communication necessitates more researches on image compression technologies. Since high-volume data need to be transmitted continuously, developing holographic data compression technologies is a prerequisite,” Chairman Yang says.

 

What measures up to the IMT-Advanced standards, specified by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), is WiBro-Advanced at the moment, he adds. Mobile networks with a spectral efficiency of over 15 bits per hertz, meet the IMT-Advanced standards. WiBro-Advanced is a bona fide 4G technology promising15 bits per hertz.

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The three mobile carriers’ LTE-A technology comes with a spectral efficiency of 7.5 bits per hertz. Thus, it cannot be considered as 4G, although it is still faster than 3G. So they just call it 4G, President Yang explains.

 

WiBro-Advanced services are cheaper than LTE-A.

“WiBro-Advanced, an upgraded version of WiBro, is faster than LTE in wireless Internet speeds. And the cost of building WiBro-Advanced networks is low compared to LTE networks. Therefore, WiBro-Advanced is pretty much a competitive technology,” he says.

 

Asked why he insists on the use of WiBro, he says, “I am a big support of WiBro because it is efficient and economical, not just because it is a homegrown technology. If IST Global was chosen as the 4th mobile carrier by the government, cheaper high-quality WiBro–A services would be provided to Korean consumers, resultantly transforming the structure of the S. Korean telecom market, carved up between a few telecom giants. In the end, mobile carriers will wind up voluntarily lowering their service charges.

 

S. Korea successfully developed WiBro in October 2002. Then, commercial WiBro services kicked off in Seoul and some parts of Gyeonggi-do in June 30, 2006. On October 18, 2007, the ITU approved the WiBro technology as the sixth global standard for 3G communications. WiBro is a domestically developed, high-speed wireless Internet service, capable of offering seamless wireless Internet services on a train running at a speed of 120km/h.

 

“There is no doubt making money on voice call services is a thing of the past. Less than 2-3% of revenues come from voice call services. Mobile data services are a cash cow. Thus, we need contents consuming hefty amounts of mobile data. Hence we have to create an environment where content developers develop, distribute contents in a smooth manner. Traffic growth means that contents get more complicated.

 

More than four years have passed since the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) developed WiBro-Advanced. President Yang has set up a 10-strong research association to conduct studies on WiBro. He is currently planning on an initial public offering (IPO), with a view to making his second bid for the 4th new mobile carrier.

 

If IST Global is selected as the 4th mobile carrier, I will invest in the research association in order to complete the development of equipment. Within a year, six cities, including Seoul, and road networks will fall under the coverage of WiBro-A services. Then, I will go nationwide with WiBro-A services. By exploiting the existing cable TV networks, I will turn cable TV networks into digital networks, thus sharing networks. As for long-haul networks, I will lease long-haul network business out to other telecom operators, equipped with optical cables, such as Onse telecom and Dream Line.


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