The 3GPP standards group this week approved the first 5G Non Stand Alone (NSA) New Radio specifications called ‘release 15’ for 5G.  Release 15, has been split into two phases with the second phase due later in 2018 as a fully standalone version for 5G.

The non-standalone release enables 5G to operate with 4G and early use cases like enhanced Mobile BroadBand (eMBB) and low latency applications.  The ‘freezing’ of the initial specification enables the industry to move forward on the design and implementation of 5G while the full standalone specifications are finalised.

Additional information is available from the 3GPP web site