VIDEO INTERVIEW: While NTT Docomo has announced ambitious plans for 5G, it is also continuing its LTE investment and is targeting 1Gb/s speeds before it rolls out its 5G network from 2020.

NTT Docomo CTO Seizo Onoe (pictured) told Mobile World Live in an interview that 4G will of course be important until the launch of 5G service. The company has described its investment and commitment in LTE as a “solid step forward” in paving the way for 5G services in 2020.

With plans to move to 1Gb/s speeds on 4G networks, he said “we need 5G speeds over 1Gb/s beyond 2020”.

The operator, Japan’s largest with a 37 per cent market share, already offers 375Mb/s service and plans to upgrade to 500Mb/s before the end of the current financial year (March 2017).

Onoe said that 5G will certainly create “unexpected new services – that always happens”. He noted that the most important thing at this stage of 5G development is standardisation. “I’m sure 3GPP will release Release 15 in 2018, then we can launch 5G in 2020.”

The operator said last year it wants to launch the technology in time for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

Docomo carried out a variety of 5G trials with five equipment vendors in the last quarter of 2015.

Click here to watch our exclusive video interview with Onoe.