Press Release: ITU defines vision and roadmap for 5G mobile development

Future mobile technologies usher in new paradigms for connected society

Geneva, 19 June 2015 – ITU has established the overall roadmap for the development of 5G mobile and defined the term it will apply to it as “IMT-2020”.

With the finalization of its work on the “Vision” for 5G systems at a meeting of ITU-R Working Party 5D in San Diego, California, ITU has now defined the overall goals, process and timeline for the development of 5G mobile systems. This process is now well underway within ITU, in close collaboration with governments and the global mobile industry.

The meeting also agreed that the work should be conducted under the name of IMT-2020, as an extension of the ITU’s existing family of global standards for International Mobile Telecommunication systems (IMT-2000 and IMT-Advanced) which serve as the basis for all of today’s 3G and 4G mobile systems.

The next step is to establish detailed technical performance requirements for the radio systems to support 5G, taking into account the needs of a wide portfolio of future scenarios and use cases, and then to specify the evaluation criteria for assessment of candidate radio interface technologies to join the IMT-2020 family. These new systems, set to become available in 2020, will usher in new paradigms in connectivity in mobile broadband wireless systems to support, for example, extremely high definition video services, real time low latency applications and the expanding realm of the Internet of Things (IoT).

The ITU-R Radiocommunication Assembly, which meets in October 2015, is expected to formally adopt the term “IMT-2020”.

“The buzz in the industry on future steps in mobile technology – 5G – has seen a sharp increase, with attention now focused on enabling a seamlessly connected society in the 2020 timeframe and beyond that brings together people along with things, data, applications, transport systems and cities in a smart networked communications environment,” said ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao. “ITU will continue its partnership with the global mobile industry and governmental bodies to bring IMT-2020 to realization.”

Ongoing information on the development of IMT-2020 will be available here .