TOKYO � Japan�s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has recently started a trial of a 5G system in Japan, in the capital as well as in rural areas of Japan. These trials are expected to continue for the next three years, in the run up to commercial launches in Japan in 2020, according to Yukihiko Okumura, the leader of the 5G Mobile Communications Promotion Forum Japan�s 5G Trial Promotion Group (5G-TPG). The announcement took place during a keynote presentation at the recent third Global 5G Event, reports rcrwireless.com
Okumura said that the 5GMF expects the operational phase of the system trial will include the creation of trial environments, the selection of participating organizations and the equipment for the trial and the operation of the trial. The Tokyo locations will include the Odaiba waterfront and Tokyo Skytree Town. The waterfront area is set to include trials of coverage and connected cars, while the Tokyo Skytree Town location is to include outdoor and indoor coverage tests, according to the same article.
Some of the members of the 5GMF Trial Promotion Group include KDDI, NTT DoCoMo, Fujitsu, Ericsson, Sony, SoftBank, NEC, NTT, Nokia, Panasonic, Hitachi, Huawei, Mitsubishi Electric, Anritsu and Keysight Technologies.
At the same Global 5G event, it was announced that China has completed planning of a 30-site 5G test field in Huairou district, Beijing. Wang Zhiqin, vice chair of the IMT-2020 (5G) Promotion Group, made the announcement. Huawei, ZTE, Ericsson, Nokia, Datang and Samsung are taking part in�this field trial in Beijing, said Wang, adding that the chipset and test instrument vendors were invited to join the field trial, also according to rcrwireless.com
China has started preparation early for next-generation�networks, establishing the IMT-2020 (5G) Promotion Group in February 2013 to coordinate efforts by mobile service operators, manufacturers and research institutes.�China aims to commercialize 5G mobile networks as early as 2020, according to the same article.
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