We may only just be getting widespread 4G in the UK, but it turns out that Chinese manufacturer Huawei has been working on 5G for years.
Huawei’s deputy chairman Ken Hu recently contributed a post to Forbes where he spoke of the company’s work on the future of mobile networks.
According to Hu, Huawei’s research and development teams, which are composed of hundreds of engineers, have been working on 5G full time for several years. Though it’s release will be dependent on the freeing up of the appropriate spectrum (which is something we in the UK know all about), Huawei could be ready with its 5G solution by 2020.
So what benefits will 5G connectivity bring? Hu isn’t too specific on the nature of the technology, but he does estimate that it will offer mobile broadband speeds of up to 10 gigabytes. Or, to put it in a more relatable way, “100 times the speed of the fastest 4G mobile connections deployed today.”
So what would such blistering speeds be useful for? Again, Hu isn’t too specific on this point, but he does point to the rise of smart and wearable devices that “augment our human senses,” and predicts that future devices will “automate the way things get done with levels of intelligence or digital wisdom we have not seen before.”
Naturally, such advancements will need a level of online connectivity that current flaky networks, including those slowly adopted 4G standards, simply won’t be able to cope with.
Next, read about O2 and Vodafone’s new 4G services.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
