Samsung Electronics said today it has tested blazing-fast data speeds for a next-generation network, clocking transmissions that are 30 times faster than 4G LTE.
The Korean electronics giant said tests reached 7.5Gb/s in a stationary setting, calling it an industry best.
It also recorded stable signal transmissions at 1.2Gb/s in a specially equipped Hyundai minivan traveling over 100km/hr at Everland Speedway in South Korea, and posted a video of the test on YouTube.
So-called 5G successor networks to 4G, which currently operate around 100Mb/s, could allow users to download a movie in only one second.
The tests were performed on a 28GHz network.
Other telecom companies such as NTT DoCoMo, Ericsson and Nokia have also been testing their own so-called 5G technologies, with Nokia eyeing the 70GHz frequency band.
Standards for 5G, however, have not been agreed upon.
“No one knows what the 5G standard will look like,” said Lee Youngso, a senior market analyst at IDC in Seoul.
“People talk about what its killer app might be, but industry insiders question the level of maturity of LTE network applications. We need to think about what kind of services would require 5G technologies.”
The South Korean government said in January that it would pump in 1.6 trillion won (about €1.2 billion) to help deploy the 5G services. It also plans to work with Samsung to introduce core 5G technologies at South Korea’s Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in 2018. Lee said that if that happens, the company could launch 5G services in time for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Many technical challenges remain in terms of securing speed and bandwidth as well as battery management, Lee said, adding that although it’s too early to see what specific services using the technologies will be available for consumers, industries using real-time data would benefit.
IDG News Service
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