With a highly-connected world where fast Internet access is vital, ZTE has pushed the envelope a little further with its pre-5G concept shared at LTE World Summit 2014 in Nice, France.

It has announced that under certain conditions, some 5G technologies can provide a 5G-like user experience on 4G terminals without changing the air interface standards.

“With next-generation 5G technologies being deployed in 2020, there were industry concerns over what technologies will be used in the next six years. To address this, ZTE proposes to apply some of the 5G technology on top of 4G to meet users’ requirements,” said Dr Xiang Jiying, CTO of wireless products at ZTE.