US Government To Invest $400 Million For 5G Research And Development Initiative

The Obama administration, on Friday, announced that the government is going to invest $400 million on research project to develop 5G mobile network technology.

As part of the Advanced Wireless Relevant Research Initiative (AWRI), the National Science Foundation (NSF) will launch and study four "city-scale testing programs" for 5G wireless services over the next seven years beginning 2017, reported TechCrunch.

The cities, which will be chosen via competition, will get city-wide 5G radio antennas that will allow public and private researchers to perform tests in a real-world setting. NSF will spend $50 million on the program over the next five years and another $35 million will come in the form of investment from companies like AT&T, Intel, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon.

The NSF will invest an additional $350 million over the next seven years to fund prizes, workshops, and international collaborations to test and develop networks, devices, and protocols for the Internet of Things.

Investing in America's future through #advancedwireless research https://t.co/KLD1AexLPi

via @whitehouseostp blog & @NSF_CISE AD Jim Kurose

— National Science Fdn (@NSF) July 15, 2016

The Advanced Wireless Relevant Research Initiative announcement follows the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Spectrum Frontiers vote, passed on Thursday, to make spectrum bands higher than 24 GHz available for 5G, reported The Verge.

The White House noted in a press release that the efforts of the spectrum policy and research will increase the deployment amount of the new generation of 5G wireless networks that is expected to bring 100 times faster Internet download and upload speeds compared to currently used 4G and LTE networks. The high-capacity, ultra-low latency and super-fast 5G networks will enable breakthrough applications for smart cities, consumers as well as the Internet of Things that cannot even be imagined today.

Possible advances from the 5G technology as listed in the press release include mobile phones and tablets that can download a movie in less than five seconds, improved self-driving vehicles, live high-res video transmissions from first-responders to emergency rooms, virtual reality job training simulators and gigabit-speed wireless broadband services in public places and businesses.