5G networks

• Consumer demands are shaping the development of mobile broadband services. Anticipated increases in traffic (estimated as 10-100 times over the period 2020 – 2030), growth in the number of devices and services, as well as demand for enhanced affordability and user experience will all require innovative solutions. The number of connected devices on the Internet is projected to reach 50 billion any time from 2025 onwards.​
  
• The fifth generation of mobile technologies - 5G - connects people, things, data, applications, transport systems and cities in smart networked communication environments. The networks transport a huge amount of data much faster, reliably connect an extremely large number of devices and process very high volumes of data with minimal delay.
• 5G technologies support applications such as smart homes and buildings, smart cities, 3D video, work and play in the cloud, remote medical services, virtual and augmented reality, and massive machine-to-machine communications for industry automation. Legacy 3G and 4G networks face challenges in supporting these services.
• Although the business cases and scope of use present challenges, these new functionalities and new services necessitate a new way of deploying advanced mobile services, as well as new approaches in making 5G technologies work together in industrial settings by machine-to-machine communications, Internet of Things (IoT) or with connected vehicles.
• ITU plays a leading role in managing the radio spectrum and developing globally applicable standards for IMT-2020. ITU is working towards providing stable international regulations, sufficient spectrum and suitable standards for IMT-2020 and the core network to enable successful 5G deployments at the regional and international levels.
  
• The first edition of the IMT-2020 specifications, the name used in ITU for the standards of 5G, has been published in February 2021 (ITU-R M.2150). Since then, more than 300 commercial launches across the world and more than 2700 announced devices (at least 50% already commercially available) can be noted.
• Initially, three technologies were approved as meeting IMT-2020 specifications: 3GPP 5G-SRIT, 3GPP 5G-RIT, and 5Gi.
  
• Two, provided by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), represent the well-known “standalone- (SA)", 3GPP 5G-RIT, and “non-standalone- (NSA)", 3GPP 5G-SRIT, 5G deployment models, of which the 5G-SA has a completely new RAN- and core-architecture, without the necessity of an underlying 4G-network.
• 5Gi provided by Telecommunications Standards Development Society India (TSDSI) is an updated version of 3GPP 5G-RIT, designed mainly to improve rural coverage.
• In February 2022, a fourth technology called DECT 5G-SRIT was designated as meeting the standard. Due to the non-cellular and autonomous, decentralized technology, it supports a range of use-cases, from wireless telephony and audio streaming to industrial Internet of Things (IoT) applications, particularly in smart cities. 

• As the first result of the work on IMT-2030 (6G) which started back in late 2021, ITU-R developed a report on the “Future Technology Trends", which has been published as
  Report TU-R M.2516  in December 2022.
• In December 2023, ITU published the framework for the development of standards and radio interface technologies for the sixth generation of mobile systems, popularly referred to as 6G. The details of the 6G framework are contained in Recommendation ITU-R M.2160 on the "IMT-2030 Framework" approved by the ITU Radiocommunication Assembly (RA-23) at its recent meeting in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. 
• The IMT-2030 Framework Recommendation classifies 6 “usage scenarios" – three extended from IMT-2020 and three new ones. It also identifies 15 capabilities for 6G technology - nine of those capabilities are derived and extended from existing IMT-2020 systems.
• For the next phase of 6G development, companies and industry associations will submit proposals for the IMT-2030 Radio Interface Technology (RIT) for ITU-R consideration in early 2027. These submissions will then be evaluated against the agreed minimum requirements prepared by ITU's expert group on IMT systems (ITU-R Working Party 5D), with the prospect of getting a final set of 6G technology standards approved by 2030. 
• IMT-2030 is also expected to help address the need for increased environmental, social and economic sustainability, and also support the goals of the Paris Agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. 
• While IMT-2020 (5G) already addressed initial considerations to accelerate the achievement of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) like energy consumption, IMT-2030 (6G) is expected to have dedicated requirements for the RIT-candidates to support the SDGs (lasting from affordable and clean energy to zero hunger). 
• At WRC-23, ITU Member states considered International Mobile Telecommunication (IMT) and mobile use of a range of mid and low band frequency ranges. The conference identified spectrum for IMT which will be crucial for expanding broadband connectivity. 
• At its first meeting in 2024, ITU-R approved a new Report ITU-R M.2541 about the “Technical feasibility of IMT in bands above 100 GHz", which includes information on propagation mechanisms and channel models, as well as newly developed technology enablers like active and passive components, antenna techniques, deployment architectures, and the results of simulations and performance tests. As such, it complements Report ITU-R M.2376 containing studies for the frequency ranges 6-100 GHz.​

Last update: August 2024 ​​