MINSK, 9 April (BelTA) – Belarusian Communications and Informatization Minister Konstantin Shulgan talked to reporters on 9 April about plans to develop the 5G cellular communications technology in the country. The plans were fleshed out before an exhibition was opened within the framework of the 26th international forum on information and communications technologies TIBO, BelTA has learned.
The official said: “We need a smart balance between cost and effect. Pilot areas have already been deployed. All the small details are being looked into as well as all aspects of the fifth-generation technology. We are studying what applications these technological novelties will find in any of the economy branches and how effective they will be. In the past we used to lag behind world leaders in the introduction of cellular communications technologies and we had someone else's experience to tap into. We keep up with the time now. It has its own peculiarities.”
5G is a new-generation technology for high-speed data transfer. It is a successor of the previous standards: GSM, 3G, 4G/LTE. “5G is not only a communications technology. It will affect the production sector, too. And spare frequencies are in limited supply. There are various ways of dealing with that. A joint taskforce is working now. Work is also in progress on amending the regulatory framework. I think we may come up with some conclusions by the end of summer,” Konstantin Shulgan noted.
TIBO 2019 is scheduled to take place at premises of Minsk Arena on 8-12 April. The forum features major events in the area of information and communications technologies involving heads of international and regional organizations, foreign government agencies and mobile carriers. The number includes the Eurasian Digital Forum, the Belarusian ICT Summit, a conference on frequency spectrum management for the CIS, Central and Eastern Europe states, and a seminar of the International Telecommunication Union on radio monitoring. Results of the website contest TIBO Internet Award will also be summed up during the forum.
