Frequency fees for 5G trials waived to speed up roll-out

SINGAPORE — To promote technological innovation and speed up the development and roll-out of reliable fifth generation (5G) mobile networks to consumers, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) is waiving frequency fees for such trials with immediate effect until December 2019.

The waiver of frequency fees, which can be described as rental for using the airwaves, will lower regulatory barriers for interested companies, and encourage the industry to explore the potential benefits and applications of 5G networks, the authority said. 

If not for the waiver, the mobile operators testing out 5G here would have had to pay IMDA S$11,200 a year.

Announcing this at the opening ceremony of the annual tech trade show Infocomm Media Business Exchange on Tuesday, Communications and Information Minister Yaacob Ibrahim said that 5G, among other networks, would form the essential backbone to further fuel the digital economy and the Internet of Things (IoT) in Singapore. 

IoT technology allows data to be transferred among Internet-enabled sensors, devices and systems over a network without the need for human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction. When 5G services are ready, they are expected to facilitate more types of technologies and services, such as autonomous vehicles, robotics and virtual reality.

Dr Yaacob said: “Exponential growth in processing power, Internet connectivity and usage of mobile devices have led to rapid growth of devices, services and software for IoT worldwide ... IMDA will be partnering the industry to develop and put in place key components of future-ready and resilient communications infrastructure that will benefit consumers and businesses across various sectors.”

He added that this would include not just 5G networks, but also enhancements to the National Broadband Network and the sensor networks, for instance.

Public consultations on spectrum requirements and regulatory provisions also kicked off on Tuesday, to look into developing and deploying 5G services in Singapore. These consultations will end on July 7.

The telco industry largely expects 5G mobile services to be commercially launched in 2020, and a variety of trials are already being undertaken by telcos worldwide, including Singapore.

Some trials have found that latency — which measures how long it takes for data to travel between its source and destination — was cut to one millisecond with 5G networks, compared to 20 to 40 milliseconds for 4G ones.

Trials in Singapore conducted by mobile network operators have shown even more promising results, IMDA said, “having achieved throughputs of more than 1Gbps, with an extremely low latency of less than 1 millisecond”.

The regulator also said it has identified more spectrum bands for 5G in anticipation of higher future demand.

In an earlier version of this story, we reported mobile operators testing out 5G here would have had to pay IMDA S$11,300 a year if not for the waiver. IMDA clarified that it would have cost S$11,200.