5G is based on standards defined by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) under the IMT-2020 requirements, which outline performance targets for speed, latency, and connectivity to support advanced use cases.

[2] These features make 5G particularly suited for applications requiring real-time data exchange, such as extended reality (XR), autonomous vehicles, remote surgery, and industrial automation.

Unlike 4G, which was primarily designed for mobile broadband, 5G can handle millions of IoT devices with stringent performance requirements, such as real-time sensor data processing and edge computing.

Despite its performance improvements, 5G deployment faces challenges such as significant infrastructure investment, spectrum allocation, security risks, and concerns about energy efficiency and environmental impact associated with the use of higher frequency bands.

[6][7] Due to their higher cost, plans are to deploy these cells only in dense urban environments and areas where crowds of people congregate such as sports stadiums and convention centers.

[page needed] The IEEE 1914.3 standard is creating a new Ethernet frame format capable of carrying IQ data in a much more efficient way depending on the functional split utilized.

[41] Standards are being developed by 3GPP to provide access to end devices via non-terrestrial networks (NTN), i.e. satellite or airborne telecommunication equipment to allow for better coverage outside of populated or otherwise hard to reach locations.

This technology supports advanced applications such as extended reality (XR), massive machine-type communication (mMTC), and ultra-low latency for critical services, such as autonomous vehicles.

[112][113][114] Additionally, 5G-Advanced integrates artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to optimize network operations, enabling smarter resource allocation and predictive maintenance.

For the first time in the development of mobile network standards defined by 3GPP, it offers fully independent geolocation capabilities, allowing position determination without relying on satellite systems such as GPS.

The standard includes extended support for non-terrestrial networks (NTN), enabling communication via satellites and unmanned aerial vehicles, which facilitates connectivity in remote or hard-to-reach areas.

The paper described the technology as "immature and insufficiently tested," and one that "enables the movement and access of vastly higher quantities of data, and thus broadens attack surfaces".

A 2012 U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence report concluded that using equipment made by Huawei and ZTE, another Chinese telecommunications company, could "undermine core U.S. national security interests".

[132] In August 2020, the U.S. State Department launched "The Clean Network" as a U.S. government-led, bi-partisan effort to address what it described as "the long-term threat to data privacy, security, human rights and principled collaboration posed to the free world from authoritarian malign actors".

[133] In December 2020, the United States announced that more than 60 nations, representing more than two thirds of the world's gross domestic product, and 200 telecom companies, had publicly committed to the principles of The Clean Network.

[135][136] Interference to satellite operations impairs numerical weather prediction performance with substantially deleterious economic and public safety impacts in areas such as commercial aviation.

[137][138] The concerns prompted U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine in February 2019 to urge the FCC to delay some spectrum auction proposals, which was rejected.

The United States Navy in March 2019 wrote a memorandum warning of deterioration and made technical suggestions to control band bleed-over limits, for testing and fielding, and for coordination of the wireless industry and regulators with weather forecasting organizations.

The government transportation officials also asked the cellular providers to hold off their new 5G service near 50 priority airports, to minimize disruption to air traffic that would be caused by some planes being disallowed from landing in poor visibility.

[154] The FAA rushed to test and certify radar altimeters for interference so that planes could be allowed to perform instrument landings (e.g. at night and in low visibility) at affected airports.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) "exposure to intense, direct amounts of non-ionizing radiation may result in damage to tissue due to heat.

[170] Many popular books of dubious merit have been published on the subject[additional citation(s) needed] including one by Joseph Mercola alleging that wireless technologies caused numerous conditions from ADHD to heart diseases and brain cancer.

Mercola has drawn sharp criticism for his anti-vaccinationism during the COVID-19 pandemic and was warned by the Food and Drug Administration to stop selling fake COVID-19 cures through his online alternative medicine business.

[169][171] According to The New York Times, one origin of the 5G health controversy was an erroneous unpublished study that physicist Bill P. Curry did for the Broward County School Board in 2000 which indicated that the absorption of external microwaves by brain tissue increased with frequency.

Writing in The New York Times in 2019, William Broad reported that RT America began airing programming linking 5G to harmful health effects which "lack scientific support", such as "brain cancer, infertility, autism, heart tumors, and Alzheimer's disease".

[201] In April 2008, NASA partnered with Geoff Brown and Machine-to-Machine Intelligence (M2Mi) Corp to develop a fifth generation communications technology approach, though largely concerned with working with nanosats.

[209] That same month, the iJOIN EU project was launched, focusing on "small cell" technology, which is of key importance for taking advantage of limited and strategic resources, such as the radio wave spectrum.

[214] On October 1, 2013, NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone), the same company to launch world's first 5G network in Japan, wins Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Award at CEATEC for 5G R&D efforts.

5G FWA can outperform older fixed-line technologies such as ADSL and VDSL in terms of speed and latency, making it suitable for bandwidth-intensive applications like streaming, gaming, and remote work.

[236] The aim is to serve unlimited number of mobile or fixed devices with video (TV) and audio (radio) streams without these consuming any data flow or even being authenticated in a network.