The ITU has decided how fast a network has to be to be considered 5G

With most of the developed world having access to 4G at this point, it’s about time for 5G to start advancing. While the technology is still very early in its development, the International Telecommunication Union has agreed on what the definition of 5G actually is. According to the ITU, 5G networks must be able to provide data speeds of up to 20Gp/s, which is twenty times faster than the current 4G standard. 

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has agreed on the preliminary definitions for the future 5G standard for mobile networking. A conference in San Diego to decide on the future of the standard was held from June 10th to 18th, where a 12 member delegation sat to draw up the specifications. In terms of data speeds, the group decided that 5G compliant networks will have to provide data speeds of up to 20Gbps (Gigabits per second), 20 times faster than the 1Gbps specification for 4G. In terms of what this means for actual user speeds, customers should receive speeds in the region of 100 to 1000 Mbps, depending on a number of factors. This is anywhere from a 10 to 100 fold increase over typical 4G speed of 10Mbps. This big increase in data speeds and bandwidth is expected to open up access to higher resolution 4K video content and holographic technology via mobile networks. The specification also caters for future internet-of-things technologies. 5G will have to be able to provide more than 100 Mbps average data transmission to over 1 million IoT device within a 1 square kilometre radius. As for the formal naming scheme, 5G will be called IMT-2020. IMT-2000 was the name for 3G networks and IMT-Advanced for 4G. The group will begin looking for technologies to use for the standard soon.