Taiwan Plans Consortium with Local Suppliers for 5G Standards

Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) plans to organize a consortium to draw up industry standard for 5G wireless communications service with Taiwan's telecom-gear makers and service providers by mid-2015.

The service providers and gear makers include MediaTek Inc., Asustek Computer Inc., HTC Corp., Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd., and the Foxconn Technology Group.

According to Department of Industrial Technology (DoIT) of the ministry, since Taiwan's 5G equipment technology remains nascent, the development of the island's 5G industry chain should begin with end-user equipment and small cell towers.

Department officials say it will begin to work on solutions to 5G technology development as soon as the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) under the United Nations announces bandwidth, speed, and connectivity standards for 5G.

The officials say it will organize a 5G standard consortium in mid- 2015 to beef up the island's 5G technological capability to find opportunity to work with international standard organizations.

According to the 5G development plan announced by Taiwan's Cabinet, the island will move to 5G gradually from 4G and through B4G. The island will complete the development of high-end small cell towers next year, application of  patents by 2016, and prototype and technology deployment of 5G system by 2017.

The officials say Taiwan's 5G development plan will first focus on high-end small cell towers and chips to lay foundation for the competitiveness of the island's 5G industry and the establishment of the island's 5G industry chain. They aim to have Taiwan snatch up half of the world market for small cell towers, become a globally top-2 supplier of 5G chips, and hold at least 4% of the world's 5G patents by 2020.

The plan also includes the establishment of a field test environment for 5G equipment and B4G by 2017, providing local equipment suppliers pre-shipment preliminary tests. (KL)