China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) held its ‘5G technology R&D testing’ launch meeting, with head of the IMT-2020 (5G) Promotion Group Cao Shumin introducing the overall plan for 5G testing in China.

The country’s 5G technology R&D tests will be carried out by the IMT-2020 (5G) Promotion Group under the leadership of the MIIT, with support from the National Science and Technology Major Project, C114.net reported. The main goals are to support the formulation of 5G international standards and boost 5G R&D and industry development.

Cao, who is also president of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), said the 5G tests will be divided into two major stages, namely technology R&D tests from 2015 to 2018 and product R&D tests from 2018 to 2020. The technology tests are organised by CAICT and jointly supported by operators, equipment vendors and scientific research institutions, while the product tests are organised by China’s operators, with support from equipment vendors and research institutions.

Technology tests
The technology R&D, which is the current focus Cao said, will be broken into three phases. The key technology verification phase (September 2015 to September 2016) will focus on performance tests of single-point technology prototypes. The technical solution verification phase (June 2016 to September 2017) will merge multiple technologies and carry out single base station performance tests. The system verification phase (June 2017 to October 2018) will complete networking technology performance tests and demonstrate typical 5G services.

Cao said the first step is to build a unified 5G public test platform to carry out performance tests of key technologies, technical solutions and systems. The Promotion Group will conduct 5G technology R&D tests at facilities in Beijing’s Huairou and Shunyi districts.

The second step is to set unified test requirements and the third is to establish a unified specification group and test group, which will be formed inside the IMT-2020 Promotion Group and take charge of the formulation of test specifications and field tests.

At the signing ceremony of China-Europe 5G Collaboration Joint Statement back in September, Ma Kai, China’s vice premier, noted that China will strive to launch 5G networks in 2020, C114.net reported.

Despite numerous 5G claims by operators and vendors around the world, it remains uncertain as to what will eventually comprise a set of 5G standards. An official 5G standard is unlikely to be ratified until at least 2017.