As 4G networks mature, mobile network technology has begun to develop towards 5G services. 5G uses two frequency bands, namely Sub-6 and mmWAVE millimeter wave. Taiwan's major telecom operators recently conducted bidding for the 5G frequency band. The total bid price reached 142.191 billion yuan, which is the third highest in the world. This article introduces the specifications and differences of Sub-6 and mmWAVE millimeter waves respectively. If you want to understand the 5G bidding results of Taiwan's five major telecom operators, you can refer to this picture to understand the summary of Taiwan's five major telecom 5G frequency bands. 5G is divided into Sub-6 and mmWAVE millimeter wave frequency bands
5G is the abbreviation of "5th generation mobile neorks". According to the international communications standardization organization 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), The standards set by the Third Generation Partnership Program (3G Partnership Plan) use 10 times the speed as the separation of generations. Therefore, the network speed of 5G will theoretically be more than 10 times that of 4G.
Many frequency bands in the previous 3G and 4G generations have been saturated, so the new generation 5G requires more new frequency bands. According to the specifications defined by 3GPP, 5G is divided into two large frequency bands, with the 6GHz frequency band as the boundary. Below 6GHz, which is Sub-6, ranges between 450MHz and 6GHz, and "millimeter wave", which is the mmWave frequency band, is It belongs to the high frequency band, ranging from 24GHz to 52GHz. mmWave Millimeter wave is a new range that has been adopted only after recent technological breakthroughs. The initial applications in Taiwan are still based on Sub-6.
▲According to the specifications defined by 3GPP, 5G uses the 6GHz frequency band as the boundary and is divided into two frequency bands: Sub-6 and mmWave millimeter wave.
▲Above 24GHz millimeter wave, the frequency band that can be used by mobile devices. Because high-frequency millimeter waves are susceptible to interference and have insufficient early technology, they have not attracted much attention until the 5G generation.
The Sub-6 frequency band can be extended from the 4G base. Most frequencies have been occupied
Taiwan’s 5G Sub-6 frequency band chose 3.5GHz, setting a world record of 138.081 billion during the bidding, exceeding the reserve price 461.5%. The reason why telecom operators compete so much in the Sub-6 frequency band is mainly because the Sub-6 industry technology is very mature and can even continue to develop downwards by relying on existing 4G technology. Sub-6's base station is easy to deploy, has long communication distance and wide coverage, making it the main development direction of 5G in many countries.
However, Sub-6 is not without its shortcomings. As mentioned earlier, most of the frequency bands covered by Sub-6 have been occupied, so the resources used have become quite limited, and many countries have abandoned saturation. Sub-6, completely switching to mmWave millimeter wave to develop 5G frequency band. But even so, because the uncertainty of millimeter wave technology is too high, the Sub-6 band is still the first choice for telecom operators when the bandwidth is sufficient.
▲Taiwan telecom operators are rushing to grab Sub-6’s 3.5GHz bandwidth. The bidding amount and fierce competition far exceed that of the 28GHz millimeter wave band.
▲3GPP takes 6GHz as the boundary and divides it into the first type frequency range (FR1) of Sub-6 and the second type frequency range (FR2) of mmWave millimeter wave. Within the scope of FR1, the 3.5GHz frequency band can best meet the needs of 5G and base station installation. (Image source: NCC) mmWave millimeter wave has promoted the 5G technology revolution, but the industry is not yet mature
Although 3GPP has restrictions on the speed of 5G, many people believe that Sub-6 is just an extension of 4G. Using mmWave millimeter wave is the real 5G. This is because mmWave millimeter wave has high frequency, large bandwidth, and is rarely used. It can support high-speed and large-capacity data transmission, and therefore can achieve the "high speed, low latency" characteristics of 5G. The mmWave frequency band selected by Taiwan is 28GHz.
Although mmWave millimeter wave can greatly increase network speed, mmWave millimeter wave has short wavelength and weak penetration, which means it is easily restricted by terrain. If high speed is to be maintained everywhere To access the Internet, a large number of base stations must be constructed, which will be difficult to popularize in a short period of time. In addition, mmWave millimeter wave technology is not yet mature and requires higher costs. Therefore, in the early stages of 5G construction, Sub-6 is still the main trend.
▲ Compared with 4G LTE, New Radio (NR) is a new technology of 5G and is also the name of 3GPP for 5G technical specifications. Sub-6's 5G technology is partially integrated with 4G, so it is regarded by some as an accelerated version of 4G rather than a comprehensive innovation of 5G. (Image source: NI)?
▲3GPP’s configuration method for 5G frequency bands, with Sub-6 at the top and mmWave at the bottom. As for the multiplexing mode, it refers to the different ways of spectrum utilization. For example, FDD separates network upload and download, while TDD performs upload and download in the same frequency band and uses time to separate the receiving and transmitting channels. (Photo source: NCC) 5G construction drawings are still in progress and are expected to be launched in the second half of 2020.
After fierce competition among the five major telecom operators, Taiwan’s 5G bidding came to an end with a total amount of 142.191 billion yuan. While gradually entering the 5G network, consumers are also worried about whether telecom operators will increase the tariffs of 5G services in order to meet costs.
Although related equipment in Taiwan is still under construction, telecom operators said that they expect 5G related services to be successfully launched in the second half of 2020. Whether it is Sub-6 or mmWave, it is certain that 5G will inevitably bring about innovations in network applications, and more emerging industries will emerge in the future, changing the traditional communication experience.