Setting the standard

From the first analog systems to 2G, 3G, 4G, and now on to 5G: our collaborations with global industry and academia have played a crucial role in developing a standard that meets the needs of different industries, and the society. By fulfilling their needs, we assist in making them technologically strong for the future.

With new techniques and technology, we are at the forefront of developing the 5G technology. Groundbreaking innovations and great people make Ericsson one of the leading providers and a recognized leader in 3GPP and by other major standardization organizations.

Every innovation has its own story, with experts challenging traditional ways of thinking. Staying true to it, we continuously set open standards to make communications and connections possible, significantly impacting people, other industries, and our society.

About 5G standardization

What is standardization?

Standardization is a framework of agreements for all relevant parties in an industry to ensure the creation of good performing systems, products and services within the set guidelines. It can help to maximize compatibility, interoperability, safety, repeatability, or quality. Developing a new telecom technical standard within a standardization organization is based on a consensus of different parties; these include telecom vendors, operators, users, interest groups, and governments.

Here at Ericsson, we have always been a strong driver in the telecom industry’s standardization work, developing standards that share common values.

Creating a cohesive innovation platform

In 2012, Ericsson prepared the first draft of an initial 5G standard, detailing its rationale, goals, requirements and scope. These basic 5G principles were aligned with the major cellular players, and are now taken for granted when mentioning a 5G system.

Alongside developing the 5G standard, we are considering how these global standards complement a networked society – a world where everything benefits from being connected. Global standards are fundamental to ubiquitous connectivity in the ICT industry, particularly as globally-standardized technologies ensure worldwide interoperability between networks, devices and operators. These have already proved a successful means of making technology more affordable for mainstream users.

The key domains of the 5G system are wider than previous generations, including support for network slicing, wireless and wired access, transport, cloud, applications, management and orchestration. With network slicing, different verticals – such as railway, public safety, industry automation, vehicle-to-vehicle and utilities – can have their own specific requirements implemented in the same network.

As these structures converge, we are placed in a unique position to lead the development of new standards for all major mobile and fixed communication systems. This creates an innovation platform; that is, a network for all industries and society.

"With 5G, we are creating the biggest innovation platform ever." - Erik Ekudden, Ericsson’s CTO, speaking at MWC Shanghai 2019