At the recent Mobile World Congress, 5G PPP, a collaborative research initiative within the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 program, launched its inaugural vision paper, which outlines how 5G will create a single digital economy. The program also aims to put Europe back in the driving seat with a ubiquitous network that will connect people, things and services.
The paper sets out expectations on what 5G should deliver, including speeds up to 100 times faster than 4G, connect 1,000 times as many devices and carry 1,000 times as much traffic in a given area. At present, there are five ongoing European research projects in the 5G technology areas such as new waveforms, cell densification, usage of spectrum above 6GHz and spectrum optimization
According to a statement by 5G PPP, the European society and economic performance will strongly rely on 5G infrastructure in the years beyond 2020. It is an enabler for a truly digital society with ubiquitous, ultra-high-speed communications infrastructure that will support all economic sectors as well as the ever-growing consumer demand for new services.
EU Digital Economy Commissioner, Gunther Oettinger
5G will open the possibility of exciting new applications such as connected cars, safer and autonomous driving, remote surgery, real time industrial applications and robotics. 5G will be a major step towards the Internet of Things in terms of cost and efficiency.