The 8th Global 5G Event Summary Report
The 8th Global 5G Event was held for two days on October 14 (Thursday) and 15 (Friday) , 2021 and organized by the IMT-2020 (5G) Promotion Group. The event was supposed to be held at Shanghai Convention Center in July 2020 last year but was postponed for one year due to the coronavirus pandemic. As part of continuing efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infections, the event was held online this year.
■ Event Overview
1. Name: The 8th Global 5G Event
2. Organizer: IMT-2020 (5G) Promotion Group
3. Dates: October 14 (Thu.) to 15 (Fri) , 2021
4. Format: Online meeting by Zoom
■ Program and Speakers from Japan
| Session | Details | Speakers from Japan |
| Day 1, October 14 | ||
| Welcome 19:00-19:10* |
– | |
| 5G Trends and Policies 19:10-20:20* |
5G trends in each country and region and status of frequency policies | Mr. OHMURA Yoshinori (5GMF Secretary General) |
| Beyond 5G 20:20-21:30* |
Current state of 5G, future technologies, and their standardization | Mr. NAKAMURA Takehiro (Beyond 5G White Paper Subcommittee Head / NTT DOCOMO) |
| Day 2, October 15 | ||
| 5G Commercialization 19:00-20:10* |
Status of 5G commercialization in each country | Mr. TERABE Shigeo (KDDI) |
| 5G Solutions for Vertical Industries 20:10-21:20* |
Issues, solutions, and future plans regarding vertical industries such as Industrial Internet, transportation, and media | Mr. NAKAMURA Takaharu6 (Fujitsu) |
| 5G for pandemic control 21:20-22:20* |
Role of 5G in pandemic countermeasures | – |
| 22:20-22:25* | Announcement regarding the 9th Global 5G Event | Dr. YOSHIDA Susumu (5GMF Chairman) |
| Closing remarks 22:25-22:30* |
– | |
*Beijing time (＋1 hour in Japan)
■ Main contents
Day 1
First, Ms. Zhiqin WANG, Chair of IMT-2020 (5G) Promotion Group, the organizer of the event, gave a welcome address, followed by Dr. Yulin LIU, Vice director general of Department of Information and Communications Development of Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) of the People’s Republic of China.
After the opening, Ms. Zhiqin WANG served as moderator for Session 1, which included reports from the U.S., Korea, Europe, Japan, Brazil, India, and China regarding the status of 5G deployment and the progress of frequency allocation efforts in each country. From Japan, 5GMF Secretary General, Mr. OHMURA Yoshinori, gave a talk titled “Deployment Strategy of Local 5G in Japan,” where he explained Japan’s 5G roadmap until 2025 and gave an overview of 5GMF. He then explained the concept and outline of the Local 5G scheme, which is a distinctive initiative by Japan, and the status of frequency allocation and license applications, and introduced field trial activities. Local 5G attracted a high level of interest, eliciting discussions regarding the key points of the initiative.
Dr. Colin WILLCOCK, Chair of 5G Infrastructure Association (5G-IA) for 5G PPP in Europe, served as moderator for Session 2, which included reports from China, India, Europe, Brazil, Japan, and Korea regarding each country’s promotion structure and roadmap for Beyond 5G, the next-generation 5G mobile communication system. From Japan, Mr. NAKAMURA Takehiro representing NTT DOCOMO and Head of the Beyond 5G White Paper Subcommittee of the Beyond 5G Promotion Consortium discussed Japan’s Beyond 5G promotion strategy and roadmap and the organization of the Beyond 5G Promotion Consortium in a talk titled “Beyond 5G/6G Research in Japan.” He also explained the programs and schedule of activities of the White Paper Subcommittee, particularly pointing out the very active discussions being held regarding the White Paper. The other speakers discussed concrete Beyond 5G initiatives, explaining various keywords such as terahertz band, IoT, AI-based network automation, non-terrestrial networks, security, green technologies, etc.
Day 2
Dr. Luciano Leonel MENDES from Brazil’s National Institute of Telecommunications (Inatel) served as moderator for Session 3, which included lectures regarding the status of 5G commercialization in Brazil, Europe, India, Japan, China, and Korea. From Japan, Mr. TERABE Shigeo representing KDDI discussed the status of KDDI’s current area coverage (with a goal of setting up 50,000 base stations and achieving 90% population coverage by March next year) in a talk titled “KDDI’s 5G Commercialization.” He also reported about issues in commercialization, including nationwide area deployment using high-frequency bands and initiatives to address satellite communication interference in the 3.7 GHz band, as well as future plans for the shift to standalone architecture and network slicing. Commercialization activities vary depending on the circumstances of each country and region. For example, while the report from India noted that there are extremely high expectations for 5G in areas where wired networks are scarce, the reports from Europe and China talked about initiatives aimed at the development of new use cases and applications. There were also discussions about successful applications in each country.
Dr. Dong Ku KIM from Korea’s Yonsei University served as moderator for Session 4, which included lectures on the utilization of 5G in the industrial sectors in Europe, Korea, Brazil, India, China, and Japan with the title “5G Solutions for Vertical Industries.” From Japan, Mr. NAKAMURA Takaharu representing Fujitsu, in a talk titled “5G Solutions for Vertical Industries,” discussed the need for finding the right people for the right jobs in carrier 5G and local/private 5G in response to needs in the industry by looking at the case of transportation as a simile. He also pointed out the effectiveness of the feedback for standardization based on the issues identified, after that he introduced 5G utilization at Fujitsu’s factories and the company’s initiatives in cloud and other services. The other speakers reported on 5G utilization at construction sites, factories, and transportation; a notably new application was reported for bank services in India.
Dr. Veezhinathan KAMAKOTI from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) served as moderator for Session 5, which included lectures on topics related to COVID-19 in Europe, Brazil, China, and Korea. The lectures mentioned issues regarding the effects of fake news and delays in auction and other plans in contrast to the advancement of remote work brought about by the pandemic. The lectures also introduced 5G utilization for remote medical robots and healthcare applications such as contact-tracing and vaccine passports in the different countries and regions. Assertions were made that 5G would become an important component technology in the field of healthcare.
Next, 5GMF Chairman, Dr. YOSHIDA Susumu, introduced the 9th Global 5G Event to be held in Japan in the fall of 2022 next year.
The event ended with closing remarks given by IMT-2020 (5G) Promotion Group Chair Ms. Zhiqin WANG.
