The third 5G standard will further enhance system performance and expand into new applications
Juan Montojo, Vice President, Technical Standards, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.
Last week, 3GPP Release 17 — the third installment of the global 5G standard — reached stage 3 functional freeze (translation: system design completion). Release 17 has been completed with its scope largely intact, despite the fact that the entire release was developed in the midst of a pandemic that hit the world, including 3GPP, right after the scope of the Release was approved in December 2019. 3GPP has been operating through electronic means from the latter part of January 2020 and has yet to get back to face-to-face meetings and interactions. The return to face-to-face meetings is not expected before June 2022. Release 17 completion not only marks the conclusion of the first phase of the 5G technology evolution, but it is a testament to the mobile ecosystem’s resiliency and commitment to drive 5G forward. I couldn’t be more proud of 3GPP, and our team, in particular, as Qualcomm Technologies led the efforts across a wide range of projects. Release 17 delivers another performance boost to the 5G system and continues expanding 5G into new devices, applications, and deployments. Let’s take a closer look…
New and enhanced 5G system capabilities
Release 17 brings further enhancements to the foundational aspects of the 5G system, pushing the technology boundaries on many fronts, including capacity, coverage, latency, power, mobility, and more. Read the full blog article here to learn about a few key areas of improvement, Expansion to new 5G devices and applications, other enhancements and what’s next.