EE plans for 5G before 2022

All of the latest mobile phones here in the UK use 4G, with the relatively new technology starting to take a hold after a significant increase in the level of coverage and the promise of superfast mobile internet speeds.

Nearly 3 million people have signed up to EE’s 4G network, making it the biggest, with many others using 4G through other mobile network providers. Even with this all being relatively new and mobile network operators ramping up their advertising and increasing their coverage, the industry is now looking ahead to the next generation, 5G.

The development of new mobile technologies can take time, and it is expected that 5G is nearly a decade away. EE is a member of the 5G Innovation Centre at the University of Surrey and is heavily involved in delivering the new research which will make 5G a reality. It is expected that the 5G network would be able to deliver 1000 to 5000 times more capacity than 3 or 4G networks today.

OfCom, the industry regulator, has already indicated that it has identified possible spectrum for the 5G network, which could be up to seven times the amount of the spectrum which was previously released for the 4G spectrum auction.

In Asia, some countries have already begun testing 5G networks with Japanese company NTT DoCoMo developing networks with speeds of up to 10Gbps in some cities. In South Korea, Samsung is reportedly making developments of its own.

Here in the UK and looking ahead to the evolution of the 4G and 5G networks between now and 2030 it has been predicted:

Mobile phone technology is constantly developing and taking significant leaps forward each year and is showing no signs of slowing down!