According to its new mandate, the Group must engage open source communities, influence and leverage their work by presenting them with the challenges that telecom actors must face in developing the 5G ecosystem.

The Thematic Group views the 5G era as a highly dynamic sector of information and communication technologies (ICTs) characterized by the arrival of new players in the network business and new opportunities for telecommunications companies. The period up to 2020 will witness the emergence of new business models that will capitalize on the transformative effects of computerization and the corresponding convergence of open source and telecommunications communities.

The Thematic Group was established in May 2015 to analyze how emerging 5G technologies will perform in future networks, in a preliminary study of the network innovations needed to support the development of 5G systems. The Group examined the 5G research and development ecosystem, identified 85 "gaps" in existing standards that need to be addressed by 2020, and published its analysis in its Report.

“The analysis of new networking requirements carried out by the Telecommunication Standardization Sector is a valuable complement to the 5G standardization program overseen by the ITU Radiocommunication Sector,” said Houlin Zhao, ITU Secretary-General. “On the path to 5G, the ICT sector will undergo significant transformations, and I am pleased to see that ITU members are creating an open platform to achieve greater cohesion in 5G innovation.”

Peter Ashwood-Smith, Chair of the Theme Group, summarizes the ambitions for 2016 in an interview. "Telecommunications companies are calling for more computerization," says Ashwood-Smith, Senior Research Fellow and Technical Vice President at Huawei. "The development of standards for network function virtualization and software-defined networking has received strong support from telecom players, who hope to introduce more computing and benefit from the use of general-purpose equipment." Learn more.
    

In 2012, the ITU established a program on International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) for 2020 and beyond (IMT-2020), which provides the framework for 5G research and development worldwide. ITU-R Recommendation M.2083-0 defines the framework and global objectives for the future development of IMT for 2020 and beyond. The ITU Radiocommunication Assembly, held in Geneva from 26 to 30 October 2015, endorsed ITU-R Resolutions 65 and 56-2, which set out the roadmap for the development of 5G mobile and its name, "IMT-2020".

The ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) is coordinating the international standardization and identification of spectrum for the development of mobile 5G. The ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) will play a similar role for the technologies and architectures of the wired elements of 5G networks.

"The work of the ITU-T Thematic Group on network aspects of IMT-2020 has lived up to the high expectations of ITU members," said François Rancy, Director of the ITU Radiocommunication Bureau. "The ITU Radiocommunication Sector welcomes the decision to extend the mandate of the Thematic Group, and we look forward to using the results of the next phase of the Group's studies."

“5G research and development is being driven by numerous and diverse industry stakeholders, research institutes, and standards bodies,” said Chaesub Lee, Director of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Bureau. “Our IMT-2020 Network Aspects Theme Group is examining how all elements of the 5G ecosystem will work in harmony—a welcome contribution to the multifaceted 5G preparations underway around the world.”

The Thematic Group, which is open to participation from all interested parties, will be the starting point for the ITU-T's contribution to 5G standardization. The Group's initial findings have been presented to the ITU's expert group on future networks, cloud computing, and network aspects of mobile communications, Study Group 13.

By extending the Thematic Group, Study Group 13 of the ITU-T has given it a new mandate, which can be summarized as follows:

    Explore demonstrations or prototypes with other groups, particularly the open-source community.
    Improve aspects of network computerization and information-centric networking.
    Continue refining and developing the IMT-2020 network architecture.
    Continue studying fixed-mobile convergence.
    Continue studying network segmentation for core and front-end links.
    Continue defining new traffic models and associated aspects of QoS and operations, administration, and management (OAM) applicable to IMT-2020 networks.

In the ITU-T standardization activity, which is based on the conclusions of the Thematic Group, priority will be given to the conformity of 5G end products with those of the ITU-R, and care will be taken to ensure that the standardization work relating to the network aspects of 5G takes into account the progression of its radio transmission systems.