(Yicai Global) March 21 -- The standardization of China's fifth-generation (5G) mobile technologies has entered the last phase and the sector's technology is now fundamentally mature, according to the former chairman of China Mobile Communications Corp., one the country's biggest wireless carriers.

5G's application will focus in two areas, namely eMBB (enhanced mobile broadband) offering a larger network capacity, and uRLLC (ultra-reliable low latency communication), Securities Times cited Wang Jianzhou as saying in a speech at a forum held in Beijing by trade body Groupe Speciale Mobile Association (GSMA)

China is ahead in the global development of 5G networks, which are expected to be at least 10 times faster than 4G, and aims to roll out commercial services as early as next year. The number of 5G users worldwide will reach 1 billion by 2023, telecoms giant Ericsson Ltd. said in a report last December. The country is expected to make up more than half of users by 2022, according to research firm CCS Insight Ltd

"When 5G is combined with artificial intelligence, its application will hit a critical point," said Wang, an advisor to the GSMA, which represents the interests of mobile network operators worldwide.

Wang expects 5G to bring significant changes to handsets, despite widespread attention being focused on the latest smartphone features. "Mobile phones act as a personal information center, but they'll develop into an intelligent control center," he said. "There'll be considerable changes in mobile operating systems."

Regarding the distribution of frequencies, Wang said it will be hard for operators to meet the peak 5G-download rate of 20 gigabytes-per-second if they only have access to 100-megahertz frequencies. He suggested the adoption of millimeter-wave frequency bands, as well the sharing of frequency resources among operators, or even a shared access system.