5.5G to be massively commercialised in 2025: ITU

5.5G, an enhanced version of 5G, is expected to be put into large-scale commercial use by 2025 to further digitalise the economy and society, and speed up green and intelligent transformations, according to an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) expert.

Walid Mathlouthi, Head of the ITU’s Future Network & Spectrum Management Division made the above statement during the 5.5G and Intelligent World 2030 media roundtable at Huawei Win-Win Innovation Week held this week. Mathlouthi said that spectrum will be crucial for future ICT development, especially in mobile communications and 5G to 5.5G evolution. The global industry value chain as a whole is currently concerned about ultra-wideband spectrum allocation and all-uplink spectrum usage. It will be important to address these issues through industry-wide collaboration in networks, ecosystems, and services. Increasing spectrum availability will also facilitate robust and sustainable growth of the industry.

“It is important for unified standards to be adopted worldwide,” said Mathlouthi. “Relevant spectrum guidelines will be released at the WRC at the end of 2023.” He predicted that 5.5G will be put into commercial use in 2025.

Wang Qi, Chief Marketing Officer of Huawei 5.5G Wireless Network, agreed with this prediction. He said that we will need wireless technologies that are more capable than 5G within the next 5 to 10 years as more intelligent applications emerge. 5.5G, the next proposed evolution of 5G, has already been defined by its ability to support 100 billion connections and ubiquitous 10 Gbit/s connectivity. This emerging technology will play a vital role in the growth of the digital economy.

The concepts being discussed at this summit are nothing new. Huawei first proposed an outline for 5.5G in 2020, and 3GPP officially named the concept “5G-Advanced” in 2021. As an upgraded version of 5G, its features such as ubiquitous 10 Gbit/s connectivity, 100 billion connections, intrinsic intelligence, and energy saving capabilities, will power future industries such as the IoV, IoT, robotics, and manufacturing, and serve as a key driving force of the digital economy.