Why the development of optical communication is not as good as 5G

At the 2021 China Optical Network Conference, which opened yesterday, Wei Leping, a well-known expert in the optical communications industry, delivered a keynote speech and talked about the hot "F5G" this year.

F5G, or "Fifth Generation Fixed Network Communication", corresponds to 5G (Fifth Generation Mobile Communication). According to data, in the second half of 2019, 10 companies including China Telecom, China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, Huawei, Telecom Italia, and Portugal Telecom jointly initiated the establishment of an F5G working group. At the end of February 2020, ETSI announced the establishment of the fifth-generation fixed network working group (ETSI). ISG F5G), expand the definition of F5G, and promote the intergenerational evolution of fixed networks.

Previously, there were 1G, 2G, 3G, and 4G, but there were no F1G, F2G, F3G, and F4G. F5G can be said to be a manufactured standard. Wei Leping pointed out that standardized and unified F5G is a necessary condition for creating a huge economic scale in the mobile communications industry.

Wei Leping believes that from now on, optical communications are moving farther and farther. There are at least three standards in each field, or even seven or eight, which cannot compete with the unified standards and standards of the mobile communications industry. Especially in the Chinese market, fighting each other, going further and further, the status quo is very pessimistic, and it needs to learn from the mobile communication industry.

What is the relationship between optical communications and 5G? Wei Leping believes that the all-optical network is the best bearer for 5G and 6G, and its access part competes with 5G and 6G. The two can only be coordinated, and each should take advantage of each other's strengths and cannot be partial or neglected. 5G cannot solve all problems, and optical communications will also play an important role.


In fact, as early as the era of 3G and 4G, the communications industry had the slogan of "Fixed Mobile Convergence". But for so many years, fixed-mobile integration is still just a slogan, and no one listens to others. In the 5G era, 5G functions are very powerful, and it is possible to unify wireless networks and fixed networks, form a brain, and truly achieve integration. Especially in the industrial Internet scene, Wei Leping suggested that the mobile and fixed scenes should be focused and focused separately, and the battle should not be disrupted.

From the most critical business application division, 5G and 6G focus on small and medium-sized screens, medium-bandwidth and quality data services and short videos, while the optical access side focuses on large-screen, high-bandwidth and high-quality data services and videos. This reminds the author of last year that a manufacturer demonstrated using 5G networks to watch 4K HD TV...

In some business scenarios, optical fiber has already been deployed, and it is obvious that optical fiber can be used to solve the connection problem. Why use 5G? This is a problem that many industry customers are puzzled by the 5G wave. Wei Leping's remarks can be regarded as uncovering the black cloth covering the optical communication head of 5G.

Wei Leping also mentioned that the all-optical network is being upgraded from FTTH fiber to the home, FTTD fiber to the desktop, and even FTTT fiber to the terminal. "The long-term goal of the all-optical network is to become a ubiquitous optical socket like an electrical socket. This goal will take at least ten years or more before it can be realized in big cities."

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