The 5G Standard

Video interview - Progress on 5G in TSG RAN

Nov 27, 2020

November 27, 2020

In our latest video, Balazs Bertenyi tells Brian Dolby of ProactivePR how 3GPP has maintained the pace of 5G work, despite the need to suspend face-to-face meetings since early March 2020.

Bi-monthly Working Group meetings and quarterly Plenaries have moved to e-meetings, with delegates dealing with thousands of contributions over email and holding live discussions over carefully scheduled audio calls.

Live sessions have been rationed in TSG RAN meetings, in recognition of the reality that attending any more than the scheduled 3 hour long discussions on GoTo webinar are a big ask for people in many of the 14 time-zones occupied by delegates. “We try to focus those three hours on the most contentious and difficult topics. Everything else we try to solve over email.” Says Balazs Bertenyi.

Talking about the important role that cellular has played in keeping people in touch during the healthcare crisis, he congratulated the members and individual delegates on being able to keep the contributions flowing throughout.

2020 11 balazsBrian Dolby asked Balazs about Release 17 progress. Work on satellite access, on reduced capability device support and support for unlicensed access are singled out as important advances in response to the question. The rise in interest in 5G’s viability for industrial and factory use cases is also stressed, as it helps to drive the standards beyond mobile broadband. Balazs describes ‘native cellular positioning’ as an upcoming feature that will provide better indoor tech.

Asked about 6G, he gave an indication that there may be a place-holding mid-generational step for 5G, before 6G is brought into standards. Stressing that 6G is currently only in the early stages of research and innovation projects, he shares his thoughts about a possible evolution path in terms of functions and a marketing marker, as 5G will remain centre stage for another two releases before 3GPP, as a Standards Organization, starts to think about 6G.

See the full video here…https://vimeo.com/484620564 

 

Contact for this article: Kevin FLYNN, Marketing and Communications Officer, 3GPP