Du will potentially launch a small device which residents can buy and plug into their homes and enjoy ultra-high speeds
The UAE telecom operator du expects to officially roll out its 5G technology by the second half of 2019, said a senior executive on Wednesday.
"Next two years are very important. As we speak today, things are still in standardisation stage. From our side, we are part of the first commercial launch which is by the second half of 2019," said Marwan BinShakar, vice-president at du for access and transport network planning.
5G technology will evolve in phases starting with gadgets and products being commercially rolled out from 2019 and will continue onwards, he noted.
Speaking at a Telecom Knowledge Series session with media, BinShakar said du started preparations a year ago and it's progressing well because 5G is "not a big bang but a step-by-step journey."
The other UAE telecom operator etisalat said it had completed 5G mobile technology live demo during Gitex 2016. The trial offered a peak speed of 36 gigabytes per second.
4G started with 150Mbps speed per second and then it was enhanced to 300Mbps and it will keep evolving closer to 1Gbps by 2019. But 5G starts from 1GB per second and goes up to 5GB in phase 1 and then it evolves even further, BinShakar said during the programme which was co-hosted by Dr Mahmoud Sherif, senior director at du for mobile access network planning operations.
"5G will accomplish super high speed, low latency communication and massive machine-to-machine type communication. [5G] is a super-connected world, connecting your homes, cars and other gadgets," BinShakar said during a presentation to the media on Wednesday.
Another amazing technology breakthrough in 5G will be fibre-in-the-air where the data will be transferred through the air rather than the fibre cables laid underground. With the launch of 5G, du will also potentially introduce a small device at its shops which UAE residents can buy and just plug it in their homes and enjoy ultra-high 5G speed, du spokesperson added.
In the future, he revealed video will become voice while virtual reality and augmented reality will be one of the killer apps of the 5G era as videos that are played on gadgets will see higher speed by multiple times. Globally, AR/VR has huge growth potential with the market expected to be worth approximately $110 billion by 2025.
He said the International Telecommunication Union is expected to complete specifications for 5G phase one by the end of this year and the manufacturers of telecommunication infrastructure as well as devices will have 18 to 24 months to fully launch their products commercially. Hence, a formal rollout of 5G technology and products is expected in 2019.
However, the US has already announced the pre-commercial launch of 5G for high-speed fixed wireless broadband to homes. South Korea is also expected to use a pre-commercial 5G technology during the Winter Olympics in 2018 for live streaming of games where people can watch games on the Internet as good as they watch on TV without a 10-15 second delay. In addition, cameras will be fixed to the helmets of skiing players and viewers can watch the same visuals as players while skiing.
Source: https://www.khaleejtimes.com/business/telecom/du-plans-rollout-of-5g-by-2019