LIVE FROM GSMA MOBILE 360 MIDDLE EAST: Japan’s Docomo plans to expand its 5G trials next year and is confident that average data rates of 1Gb/s will be available by 2020, rising to 4 Gb/s with the future launch of its 5G+ network.

Speaking in the keynote session this morning, Takehiro Nakamura, VP & GM of the operator’s 5G Laboratory, said he had discussed these speed targets with chipset vendors and now felt this was “achievable.”

Peak data rates for the 5G network will hit 5Gb/s, while the 5G+ network could hit 10Gb/s.

Docomo is planning to launch commercial 5G services in time for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Last year Mobile World Live reported on how its efforts will be split into two phases – tagged 5G and 5G+.

The 2020 launch will focus on spectrum bands below 6GHz (primarily 4.5GHz), while a 5G+ launch from 2022 aims to utilise 25GHz and 28GHz spectrum.

An initial 2020 launch will be available in dense urban areas. Post-2020 “will go to suburban and rural areas,” said Nakamura.

Trials
Docomo has already conducted trials with the industry’s major vendors, and Nakamura said this will extend to “system trials” in Tokyo from next year. “These will be larger trials, deploying potential services on the network. In parallel we have already started commercial system development so we can launch by 2020 or before.”

Nakamura concluded his presentation by showcasing a trial with Ericsson that demonstrated total downlink throughput of 21.8Gb/s.