5G-Advanced

Expand and transform your connected world

What is 5G-Advanced?

5G-Advanced will bring out the richest capabilities of 5G over the coming years, breaking down boundaries and expanding connectivity. From immersive extended reality (XR) experiences to high-precision location, presence and timing technologies, 5G-Advanced will profoundly transform what you can achieve with a cellular network.

AI data collection and analytics, coupled with introducing AI technologies in Core, RAN and network management, is expected to bring many benefits including vital new levels of energy efficiency.

Through the 3GPP standards body, Nokia is in the process of making 5G-Advanced happen. The specification of the first release of the 5G-Advanced era, Release 18, was frozen in June 2024, meaning that the specification has reached a stable state where no further technical changes are permitted. It is a crucial step in the standardization process, providing a clear and stable foundation for the development and deployment of this new technology. The second and last major release of 5G-Advanced, Release 19, started recently and will be completed by the end of 2025.

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What is 5G-Advanced?
The stepping stone to 6G
Four ways 5G-Advanced will transform our industry
How will 5G-Advanced improve monetization?
Learn more about 5G-Advanced

The stepping stone to 6G

Nokia and its research arm Nokia Bell Labs have already started the research and pre-standardization work on 6G with the aim of making it commercially available by the end of this decade. The 6G era will radically transform what a network can do, seamlessly fusing the digital, physical and human worlds to trigger extrasensory experiences. Intelligent knowledge systems will combine with robust computation capabilities to redefine how humans will live, work and take care of the planet.

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6G networks

Four ways 5G-Advanced will transform our industry

As a prominent player in the standards community, Nokia has been deeply engaged in shaping the specification work across all Technical Specification Groups of the 3GPP over the past 25 years. Our broad perspective on 5G-Advanced goes beyond viewing it as a mere collection of enhancements and features compared to 5G. Instead, we see it as a transformative tool for service providers to revolutionize their networks in significant, yet well-defined ways. Specifically, 5G-Advanced will improve network capabilities across four dimensions: experience, expansion, extension, and operational excellence. We refer to these dimensions as “the four E’s.”

5G-Advanced Rel-18 explained

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With experience, we are targeting augmented user experiences. 5G-Advanced will revolutionize digital experiences, making them truly immersive and allowing us to interact with distant physical environments and people in exciting, novel ways. We are making the network ready to support immersive XR experiences such as events and concerts.

With extension, we want to reach and target new segments. Broadband is crucial to social life and economic activity, yet many areas still lack coverage. With the advancements in Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN), 5G-Advanced will help close this gap, providing more people and industries with access to the economic benefits of mobile connectivity.

With expansion, we can go beyond traditional communication. While today's 5G networks excel in delivering information, 5G-Advanced will excel in providing precise answers to “where” and “when” questions. Innovations in high-precision location, presence, and timing technologies will expand the network’s role beyond just communication.

With excellence, we want to optimize the operational expenses of deploying a cellular network. 5G-Advanced will continue to evolve 5G features like network slicing and wireline-wireless convergence, enhance mobility, and introduce new capabilities for exceptional operational performance. Energy efficiency is a key focus, with AI and machine learning driving significant energy savings across the Radio Access Network (RAN) and core network.

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How will 5G-Advanced improve monetization?

5G-Advanced is compatible with a broad array of connected devices beyond the smartphone, as new advanced features are introduced to enable a wide IoT ecosystem that allows for low-cost and low-data rate connections. These connections can power always-on, automated, mission-critical applications with extremely low latency and pin-point accuracy. Together with upcoming network slicing innovations, 5G-Advanced is set to enable and expand many exciting new consumer and industrial use cases in 2025, and beyond. Such as:

Mobile XR and cloud gaming that need short set-up times and power efficiency, making them available anywhere, anytime on compact devices with small batteries. The Nokia Bell Labs invention L4S (Low Latency, Low Loss, Scalable throughput) plays a pivotal role to support XR over cellular networks.
The IVAS codec, an active Nokia contribution, will allow consumers to hear 3D spatial sound in real-time instead of today’s monophonic smartphone voice call experience.
Industrial process monitoring and quality control demanding the frequent transaction of small data packets transmitted efficiently to support network performance.
5G connected tags for asset tracking requiring very low energy consumption. One day, these tags may even be able to harvest energy from their environment.
Autonomous vehicles, robots, drones and drone-mounted devices that will thrive with 5G-Advanced networks tailored to ensure reliable communications with base stations, without inferring with other users.
Indoor and outdoor positioning accuracy technologies using advanced new capabilities such as carrier-phased positioning applied to signals emitted by 5G base-stations to locate connected devices, with centimetre-level accuracy.
Resilient timing services that will support everything from industrial automation to real-time financial transactions.
Smart wearable electronics with small form factor and long-lasting batteries that demand efficiency.
Specialist industry applications across sectors from railways and utilities to public safety that will deliver, for example, next-generation signalling and communications by adapting 5G to their allocated spectrum bandwidth, connecting next generation smart grids and powering ultra-connected and responsive blue-light services.
Open APIs that will allow developers to develop new applications on top of the network using a platform such as Nokia’s Network as Code.