Telecom industry has ‘standalone’ 5G standard ready

Telecom organization 3rd Generation Partnership Project, or 3GPP, has completed the SA variant of the 5g standard. The standalone specification will allow work to begin on 5G networks separate from current 4G systems.

Version 15 of the SA release of the 5g specification is the final specification, the 3GPP reports. The standard describes an end-to-end network architecture, which is separate from the current 4G infrastructure. The SA release is an addition to the NSA, or non-standalone standard.

The standard was ready at the end of December and offers network administrators an easier path to 5G by deploying existing 4G infrastructure such as the LTE base stations and core networks. The first 5G networks will therefore be based on the NSA architecture and offer gigabit speeds.

However, the NSA standard is intended for a transition phase where 5G technology and 4G core networks coexist, Samsung describes in a white paper. The SA standard is the ultimate architecture, which should eventually yield 20Gbit/s speeds. The 5G standard describes, among other things, the introduction of frequencies above 6GHz, which have not been used in the telecom industry until now.