On Monday, Samsung ( 005930) announced that it had developed a new "5G" wireless standard that could be hundreds of times faster than today's 4G networks. The new wireless standard is at least seven years away, so you won't be streaming full seasons of Game Of Thrones in 3D anytime soon.
Samsung says it has developed technology that could sit "at the core of 5G" - the successor to the 4G mobile-communications standard. The company says its equipment is capable of transmitting data at more than 1Gbps across a distance of up to 2km (1.2 miles).
Samsung has developed a new mobile data transfer technology that's potentially up to "several hundred times" faster than current 4G networks. More precisely, the company announced "the world's first adaptive array transceiver technology operating in the millimeter-wave Ka bands for cellular communications."
The development of the 2G ( GSM) and 3G (IMT-2000 and UMTS) standards took about 10 years from the official start of the R&D projects, and development of 4G systems started in 2001 or 2002. However, still no transnational 5G development projects have officially been launched, and some industry representatives have expressed scepticism towards 5G.
A report from South Korea's Yonhap News Agency about Samsung offering 5G service by 2020 caught my eye. Speculation about 5G abounds, so the title was not a surprise. What was intriguing to me was a claim of transmitting data in the millimeter wave band to a distance of two kilometers.
The electronics giant claims it is "several hundred times faster" than current 4G services and will allow users to send massive data "practically without limitation".
"As a result, subscribers will be able to enjoy a wide range of services such as 3D movies and games, real-time streaming of ultra high-definition (UHD) content, and remote medical services," the company said on its blog.
Unfortunately for smartphone fans, the technology is still early in its development phase with Samsung saying it is unlikely to appear in a handset before 2020.
Customers using 4G services - currently provided in the UK by EE - get average speeds of between eight and 12 megabits per second (Mbps), with some cities to be boosted to 20Mbps this summer.
Other UK networks are preparing to launch their own 4G services.
However, Samsung's research puts those speeds in the shade and offers a glimpse of a future where data arrives almost instantly.
Its 5G tests, using "adaptive array transceiver technology", gave speeds of "up to 1.056 gigabytes (Gbps)" - but only over a distance of two kilometres.
The South Korean firm, the world's top smartphone maker, hopes its work will prompt other groups to step up their own 5G research.
China set up a government-led 5G research group in 2012, while the European Commission is also lining up millions of euros of funding into the technology.
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