Four major telecommunications companies build cooperative structure to expand 5G area
Collaboration on efficient millimeter wave operation and base station development
Quick Look
- Four telecommunications companies, KDDI, NTT Docomo, Softbank, and Rakuten Mobile, have agreed to cooperate to expand 5G communication areas.
- We will jointly research ways to efficiently operate millimeter waves, which are susceptible to obstacles and are expensive to install, and improve maintenance technology for dedicated base stations, aiming for true 5G dissemination.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
Telecommunications companies have been promoting 5G deployment by repurposing 4G equipment, but there have been issues with communication speeds. Millimeter waves are suitable for high-speed communications, but have a narrow coverage area and are vulnerable to obstacles.
Four telecommunications companies, KDDI, NTT Docomo, SoftBank, and Rakuten Mobile, announced on the 16th that they have agreed to cooperate to expand the use area of the high-speed 5G communication standard. Expanding the area will require more 5G-dedicated base stations, so the industry is working together.
In order to quickly expand the 5G area, each company is promoting ``conversion'' of exchanging 5G radio waves while making use of conventional 4G equipment. However, the disadvantage of diversion is that it can only provide the same communication speed as 4G. The industry's challenge has been to expand ``true 5G,'' which can communicate with many devices at speeds more than 10 times faster than 4G.
Research on efficient operation for utilizing "millimeter waves"
The key is the use of millimeter waves, a type of 5G radio waves. Millimeter waves are suitable for distributing high-quality videos, but have a narrower coverage area than 4G and are easily blocked by obstacles such as buildings and trees. It will be necessary to install more dedicated base stations.
The four companies signed a memorandum of understanding on the 11th. Collaborate to improve dedicated base station technology. In urban areas, installation space for base stations is limited, and installation costs are rising due to rising prices, so the two companies will jointly research ways to efficiently install and operate base stations.
Open Questions
- When will we see concrete joint research results?
- Will we go as far as sharing base stations?
