COVID-19 Could Push Next 3GPP 5G Release to Late 2021, TAC Hears

The pandemic is slowing 5G standards development and will delay Release 17 to as late as the end of 2021, Brian Daly, AT&T assistant vice president-standards and industry alliances, told the FCC Technology Advisory Council Tuesday. The focus of the meeting was on updates from the four working groups, including Daly’s 5G/IoT/open radio access network WG. 3rd Generation Partnership Project meetings have moved online, which may continue through 2020, Daly said. Continuous virtual meetings “are reducing productivity and increasing overall fatigue,” he said. “Who actually has the voting rights in these elections?” he asked: “That could influence everything from who leads the groups to who is going to set the stage for what gets into the various releases.” Release 16 was supposed to be done in March but was just approved, he said. U.S. companies are participating more, since travel isn't required, and so are Chinese officials, which is “a bit worrisome,” he said. “We still may see further down scoping as the pressures of COVID-19 impact the electronic meetings,” he said. The U.S. is pushing to include 6 GHz in the standards, amid “firm objections” from the Chinese, Daly said. “It was really a roller coaster ride at the last week's plenary meetings,” he said: “Even though it's a regional requirement, it was clearly a political blocking by the Chinese to try to push those requirements out of Release 17.” Planning is starting on Release 18, with no clear timeline, he said. TAC next meets Dec. 1. “We’re now into the sprint part of the year,” said TAC Chairman Dennis Roberson: “We’ve really got to hustle.”