The 8th Spectrum and Technology Workshop was successfully hosted by International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Telecommunication Development Industry Alliance (TDIA), Global TD-LTE Initiative (GTI), and China Mobile this September in Durban last September. Let us together review the memorable moments with the spotlights on the “Assembly Verse”, which might enlighten the way forward. 

The governmental officers such as Mr. Zhao Houlin, Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union(ITU), attended the meeting and delivered a speech; Mr. Chen zhaoxiong, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China, was invited as a guest at the seminar.

“Under the unified organization of the ITU, the current global 5G technical specifications will be completed in 2020, and spectrum allocation will be opened in WRC-2019. The prosperity of 5G will enable a better and more convenient human society. In the future, automotive, medical, agricultural, manufacturing, and education systems will increasingly integrate with 5G applications to enrich their development potential. The success of 5G lies in the close cooperation of the entire ecological environment and calls on governments, regulators, industry organizations, operators, and eco-partners to jointly explore and solve such essential 5G issues as technology global standardization, end-to-end 5G application and spectrum harmonization. Thanks for the industry parties TDIA and GTI for their efforts to promote the development of mobile communications, and let us together achieve more fruitful results in the future. ” 

Mr. Chen zhaoxiong, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China, was invited as a guest at the seminar.  Facing the future 5G commercialization, Vice Minister Chen proposed three initiatives for the industry: “First, promote efficient use of resources, accelerate global coordination and overall planning of 5G spectrum; Second, promote coordinated industrial development and improve industrial ecosystem; Third, promote widespread application of technology, as a consequence, to accelerate the integration of 5G with industry, energy, transportation, medical care, environmental protection, and smart cities, and ultimately enable the global shared future of 5G applications.”

Mr. Abdoulkarim Soumaila, Secretary-General of the African Telecommunications Union(ATU), expressed his gratitude to the ITU, TDIA, GTI and other organizations for organizing this international seminar. “The seminar aims to strengthen cooperation with ATU on the international platform. I believe the conference experts understand well the state of the IMT spectrum in Africa. According to the WRC-15 spectrum plan, the mobile spectrum resources of most African countries are 1372 MHz, within the scope of ITU’s 2020 IMT spectrum requirements, and as WRC-19 is approaching, other spectrum of IMT is expected to reach a consensus. One of the outstanding problems is that IMT still does not use certain identified spectrum for various reasons, such as the L-band, 3.3-3.4 GHz and 3.4-3.6 GHz bands. In this regard, ATU is also actively working with the ITU and industry to jointly study the conditions of use, and hopes to complete this work as soon as possible. Regarding the principle of technology neutrality, as ATU, there is no blind support but the best technology of the era will be supported.” 

As the biggest operator in the world with the largest 4G subscription, Vice President Jian Qin from China Mobile Communications Corporation shared China Mobile’s 4G booming achievement and large scale commercialization. Facing the future, he shared with the audience about China Mobile’s “big connection” strategy, promoting digital innovation and creating a new and intelligent life.

Also, there was a panel discussion initiated at the end, with the involvement of multiple representatives from regulators, operators and vendors.