5G – Vision and Requirements

5G – Vision and Requirements

The rapidly changing world of wireless and mobile communications has brought about innovative technology standards, solutions and services leading to a major paradigm shift in the way humans communicate, access information and do business. While the first three generations of mobile technology were mainly voice-centric, the design, adoption, and proliferation of fourth generation mobile networks indicated a pivot towards a more content-centric mobile communications infrastructure, influenced mainly by the mass uptake of bandwidth hungry applications and multimedia service offerings across a very wide range of communication platforms. This transformation and evolution of the mobile communication industry has been a major impetus that is driving business innovation as well as economic and societal growth. The technological evolution has now shifted from 4G and much activity is underway regarding vision and requirements setting, research, standardisation, product development and roll-out of future 5G wireless networks beginning from 2020. This whitepaper presents the 5G vision and requirements, drivers, design considerations and challenges as well as the enabling technologies and network operator implications.