As part of du's Telecom Knowledge Series, the leading telecom organization held a session recently, about "5G: The Next Generation Mobile Network" at Al Salam Tower in Dubai Media City. The event was hosted by Marwan BinShakar; Vice President - Access & Transport Planning, and Dr. Mahmoud Sherif; Senior Director Mobile Access Network Planning. 5G technology is touted to revolutionize connectivity and lifestyle in users through high capacity speeds, and du showcased how it is spearheading 5G's deployment in the region during the session. In preparation for the 5G future, du is the first telco in the UAE to perform a massive MIMO field trial.
"At du, we believe that 5G is the future and it was great to introduce our guests to the next generation of mobile networks. du is leading innovation in the UAE and 5G is going to play an important role in everyone's lives, whether it be personal or business. It is an exciting new technology and we are pleased to have had the opportunity to discuss different topics related to 5G, and further, educate people on how du will gradually implement the technology into the UAE. 5G will completely change the connectivity experience of our customers, as transfer of information will be instantaneous," said Marwan BinShakar, Vice President Access & Transport Planning, du.
The du session looked at 5G usage cases, 5G standardisation, timelines and 5G milestones. The mass adoption of 5G in the UAE will completely transform the landscape when it comes to how residents utilise their various connected devices, and further strengthen the Internet of Things (IoT) services in the region, which du provides. 5G is a phased approach and du will continue with trials until its official launch in 2019. In addition, certain technologies such as "Connected-Cars", will target cars connected initially through the current 4G network, and the next generation cars will become connected to the innovative 5G network.
Furthermore, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality will be one of the main apps of the 5G era. Globally, AR/VR has a huge growth potential with a market value expected to be approximately $110 billion by 2025. The technology of 5G will be revolutionary as 4G started with 150Mbps speed per second and then it was enhanced to 300Mbps and it will keep evolving closer to 1Gbps by 2019. However, 5G will start from 1GB per second and will go up to 5GB in phase 1 and then evolve even further in later stages. 5G will accomplish super high speed, low latency communication and massive machine-to-machine type communication in the UAE. The 5G world will be super-connected, with homes, cars and other gadgets all syncing together.