The first phase of 5G specifications in Release-15 will be completed by April 2019 to accommodate the early commercial deployment.
The second phase in Release-16 is due to be completed by April 2020 for submission to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as a candidate of IMT-2020 technology.
The ITU IMT-2020 specification demands speeds up to 20 Gbps, achievable with wide channel bandwidths and massive MIMO. 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is going to submit 5G NR (New Radio) as its 5G communication standard proposal. 5G NR can include lower frequencies (FR1), below 6 GHz, and higher frequencies (FR2), above 24 GHz and into the millimeter waves range.
However, the speed and latency in early deployments, using 5G NR software on 4G hardware (non-standalone), are only slightly better than new 4G systems, estimated at 15% to 50% better. Simulation of standalone eMBB deployments showed improved throughput between 2.5×, in the FR1 range, and nearly 20×, in the FR2 range....read more>>>...
