In contrast to some forecasts with a more bullish 2020 date for 5G, Bell Labs head of wireless research, Theodore Sizer (pictured), sees a timeline heading for 2025, he told Mobile World Live.

Actually, any difference between Sizer and other observers might be more a question of definition than any fundamental divergence of views about how soon we see the next generation of high-speed wireless technology.

With research going on right now and 5G standards expected towards the end of the decade, Sizer lays out his roadmap. “The first product will probably be available in 2020 which is probably the point. Then it takes time to roll out and become really ubiquitous.”

He gives LTE as an example where first trials were run in 2008-2010 and the industry is now heading towards a 2015 date for full deployment of networks.

Applying a similar methodology to 5G would see a widespread deployment of networks in 2025, hence Sizer’s prediction.

Elsewhere in the interview, he cautions that the industry must take into account that 5G will serve a generation of users not born in 2000.

“They will have never known a corded phone, never shared a phone with their parents and siblings, will never have memorised a phone number and known anything other than an untethered world where they were wirelessly connected.”

This is the generation of users for which 5G must be designed, according to Sizer.

View the full interview here.