Due to coronavirus, 3GPP delays 5G standard updates

Although mobile association 3GPP finalized the preliminary 5G standard’s release which is release 15, it left numerous crucial details unresolved pending future standardization meetings and votes. Currently 3GPP says it’s delaying work on 5G standard because of the COVID-19 pandemic, decision which may impact 5G rollouts.

Since today, 5G network releases are based on release 15, an initial 5G standard that greatly relies upon older 4G networks as the backbone for “non-standalone” 5G services. Release 16 will boost “standalone” 5G networks with faster upload and download speeds, as well as specifying 5G standards for vehicle-to-everything and also industrial IoT deployments. Also Release 17 will add specs for 5G wearables as well as better network efficiency, amongst various other improvements, check our article to have more information about release 16 and release 17 specifications.

3GPP’s standardization work utilizes teams of specialized designers to figure out how numerous 5G functions will work, leading to “freezes” of technical specifications when working groups reach agreements, then organization-wide votes to validate and also publicly release complete standard updates.

Based on its inability to carry out face-to-face conferences throughout the COVID-19 episode, the group has postponed the freezing of phase three of Release 16 until June 2020, as well as the freezing of phase three of Release 17 until September 2021.

These specifications freezes up will most likely affect rollouts of the updated standards, possibly delaying “true 5G” implementations by some months– an unfortunate development, given that the mobile market had actually pressed to relocate Release 17’s day up rather than back. While 3GPP’s face to face conferences have actually been canceled through May, 3GPP has arranged on the online meetings to continue its work regardless of the pandemic and will try to keep standards rollouts on the right track.