China picks up its first 5G phone call

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Chinese telecom company ZTE Group announced on Monday that it has succeeded in making the first phone call enabled by 5G technology.

The move comes as China evolves from being a follower into a pioneer in the global telecom arena, experts said. The country is expected to commercialize 5G by 2020 and become the world's largest 5G market by 2025.

“The success moves China a step forward in developing 5G technology, which will accelerate its speed in commercializing 5G,” said Xiang Ligang, a telecom expert and chief executive of telecom industry website Cctime, adding that the call was one of the world's first using 5G technology.

The 5G phone call, the result of a collaboration between ZTE and China Mobile Communications Corporation (CMCC), was based on ZTE's end-to-end system of 5G, which will be taken for commercial use. It also follows the latest standard of 3GPP, or the third Generation Partnership Project, a body that governs global cellular standards.

“Compared with 4G and 3G, calls enabled by 5G generate better quality,” Xiang said.

China has gained momentum during the process of 5G development. It was reported recently that Chinese telecom carriers are likely to be issued 5G licenses in the second half of next year at the earliest. China will be among the first countries to issue 5G licenses.

In the past, China lagged behind other countries in issuing 4G and 3G licenses – 4G in the end of 2014 and 3G in the beginning of 2009, both years later than a large section of the world. With 5G, however, the nation has already played an important role in finalizing the global standard and raced ahead in research and development.

ZTE Group invested 20 billion yuan (approximately 3.2 billion US dollars) last month on a 5G product base in Nanjing, capital of east China’s Jiangsu Province, to develop the technology and devices.

Source(s): China Daily