Taiwan Government Maps Out 5G Plan

The Taiwan government plans to work with the European Union (EU) on the development of high-frequency, small cell-tower, and front-haul transmission, software-defined networking (SDN) technologies for fifth-generation (5G) mobile connectivity.

The government-backed Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) will present the EU with the list of these suggested technologies for consideration in early January 2015.

The EU is expected to include the list in the Horizon2020 program. Horizon2020 is the biggest EU research and innovation program ever, with nearly €80 billion in funding from 2014 to 2020. European telecom equipment vendors may approach Taiwanese manufacturers over cooperation on these technologies.

Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) will invite EU officials in February or March to assess Taiwan's 5G R&D capability before the two sides begin to discuss standards for 5G technologies.

According to MOEA officials, Taiwan needs to work with EU and mainland China or it will not be included in the international teamwork on 5G standard developments. They note that, in 2015, 5G technology will be included in the agenda of an annually held meeting on industry cooperation between Taiwan and mainland China.

Senior MOEA officials point out that the ministry will choose Ericsson, Nokia and Alcatel Lucent as its strategic partners on 5G technology development. They say Taiwan needs to provide the EU with prototypes of 5G technologies by the end of 2016 to be able to participate in the international teamwork on 5G standards.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) of the United Nations estimates that 5G standards will be introduced by 2020 and revolutionize the global telecom industry. It projects the next-generation mobile technology to generate revenue up to US$300 billion in 2025, up five-fold or so over the estimated US$61 billion for 2020.

(KL)