Photo: IC

5G technology will enable a good number of use scenarios, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), and virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), and more mature applications of the evolving technology that will bring revolutionary changes to people's lives are expected to unlock its full potential, experts said at the first World 5G Convention.

China is leading the world in terms of entering the commercial era of 5G. China's major network providers -- China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom -- all launched 5G services this month. The average speed of these new services is 10 times faster than 4G.

A mature 5G application is mostly likely to emerge from immersive VR and AR technologies, HD streaming, and industrial applications based on the IoT, experts said at the 5G event, which started on Wednesday.

However, users and industry insiders are still waiting for the applications to mature, they said.

The fledgling 5G networks of those providers have not yet provided perfectly consistent and stable 5G coverage or the best experience for consumers. As of November 10, there were only 40,000 5G users in Beijing. 

"5G is a powerful network, but it must be incorporated with different industries to unlock its application," Yin Hao, an expert in telecommunications and a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said on Wednesday, "The application will need a technological fusion with many other information technologies, from the devices to upstream chipsets and equipment."

According to Yin, the development of 5G applications, which requires a comprehensive deployment of the network, is also imposing a challenge on network providers. 

"Large-scale commercial application deployment means a dense installment of network and blanketing cities with consistent coverage, something the network providers need to carefully plan."

However, experts from the World 5G Convention said that it is essential for network operators and developers to press on with the construction of the 5G network and its applications at full speed. In this way, they can take full advantage of 5G's performance and establish a network framework to pave the way for the future 6G deployment. 

"As telecommunications moves forward, we must prepare the framework for 6G even while we're deploying 5G," said Liu Yunjie, chief of the Science and Technology Committee of China Unicom, member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

"From 5G to 6G, and from 6G to terahertz technologies, we need to prepare in advance or China will lose its current lead in 5G within five or six years."