MINSK, 2 May (BelTA) – A working group is discussing terms of deployment of the 5G mobile communication technology in Belarus. Preliminary results will be revealed by September, BelTA learned from Belarusian Communications and Informatization Minister Konstantin Shulgan on 2 May.
5G is a new generation of high-speed data transfer technologies. It is the successor of the previous standards GSM, 3G, 4G/LTE. The first few zones to test 5G have already been deployed in Belarus. A working group, which includes representatives of mobile carriers and government agencies, is working on the introduction of the 5G technology in Belarus. “We are trying to summarize the accumulated experience and find a way, which will be the most effective one for our country. Preliminary results of this work are supposed to be available by September, including the work to determine the regulatory framework,” the official stated.
According to the source, the scope of the 5G technology is larger than that of the 4G technology. “It includes not only telephony but also the industrial sector, unmanned transportation, and Internet of Things. Launching 5G goes beyond launching a new cellular communication standard. It is much more complicated than that. If the technology is to work well, we don't have enough frequencies to spare for everyone. We are also talking about the financial costs we haven't seen before. There is a great deal of issues that need to be addressed,” Konstantin Shulgan said.
BelTA reported earlier that the first unmanned dump trucks of the Belarusian automobile engineering company BelAZ were successfully tested in Russia's Republic of Khakassia. An autonomous test network was deployed at BelAZ's premises using 5G technology. It works together with the LTE Advanced Pro network and represents a prototype of the country's future fifth-generation mobile communication network.