Preliminary frequency plans for 5G ready

Doha: The Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) has completed the needed preparations for the fifth generation (5G) frequency bands for mobile telecommunications services and has prepared preliminary frequency plans that can accommodate the demand of Qatar’s telecom service providers of the main candidate frequency bands for the use of 5G technology.

CRA is one of the regulatory bodies in the region that took the lead and held, in early 2017, consultations with service providers in Qatar, to identify their future demand regarding the required frequency bands for the deployment of 5G technology in the country.

In addition, CRA held a number of meetings with stakeholders and major companies in ICT industry to discuss the global trends, the followed approaches by International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Study Groups and the approaches driven by the industry in this field.

For 5G technology of mobile telecommunications services, CRA has identified the frequency bands 700 MHz, 3.5 GHz and 26 GHz, as each service provider will be assigned a frequency bandwidth in the mentioned frequency bands, in accordance with the approved preliminary plans, this will allow the service providers to start with the preliminary testing on pre-standard network, towards the standard networks that will provide 5G commercial services to the consumers.

“We are delighted that CRA is one of the first regulatory bodies regionally and internationally to announce the readiness of 5G frequency plans. This announcement will see a great work by Qatar’s telecom service providers to start the formal testing of pre-standard networks for 5G technology this year, and to deploy standard commercial networks late 2018 and early 2019,” said Mohammed Ali Al Mannai, President of CRA.

“5G mobile telecommunications technology services will benefit both, consumers and the service providers alike. It will also help to enhance Qatar’s telecommunications market and sector. CRA will also continue to support the ITU Study Groups and other international organizations concerned with the regulations and standards of international mobile services, by participating and contributing in these working groups and by adopting the standards of International Mobile Telecommunications “IMT-2020” by ITU,” he added.

With 5G technology a massive global shift in mobile telecommunications standards will happen, compared to the 4G technology that is currently used, with 5G technology, the peak internet connection speed will reach 1 Gbps. The goal of planning in the 5G networks is to create a higher communication capacity compared to the current 4G networks, which will allow for an increase in the number of mobile broadband users at the same time and using higher amount of unlimited data, also users will be able through their mobile phones to use high-quality streamed media for long periods every day.

The aim of research and development in the 5G networks is to provide better support for Machine-to-machine and Internet of Things (IoT) applications, at a lower cost and higher responsiveness time when compared to devices running on 4G networks.