AT&T is working with several global technology leaders and operators to align on 5G. The efforts are in preparation for the release of the official 3GPP specifications which will form the basis of the global standards.
The goal is to enable faster 5G deployment once 3GPP completes the first release of the official specifications. An official technology standard makes the roll-out experience smoother which will help businesses and consumers get 5G technology even faster.
“We’re joining other tech leaders to find and resolve key standards issues early and bring 5G to market sooner.” said Tom Keathley, senior vice president- wireless network architecture and design, AT&T. “Interim and fragmented pre-standard specifications can distract from the ultimate goal. Linking trials to the standards process is the fastest path to large-scale global 5G deployment.”
AT&T hopes to collaborate with a broad set of industry participants. Preliminary discussions are underway with China Mobile, Deutsche Telekom, Ericsson, Huawei, Intel, KDDI, LG, Nokia, NTT DOCOMO, INC., Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., Samsung, SK Telecom, Telstra and Vodafone.
In 5G trials, AT&T is accelerating over-the-air interoperability testing based on standards developed under the 3GPP New Radio (NR) specifications. The trials are designed to easily evolve with future versions of the official 5G standards, a milestone 3GPP targets for 2018. Focusing on the NR standards helps ensure the technology will work correctly with any future 3GPP 5G NR updates.
