LTE-a pro (4.5G) as pre-phase for 5G deployment: Closing the gap between technical requirements and network performance

With the unceasing increase of the mobile data traffic, network operators are forced to improve the performance of their networks. The traffic explosion is intensified by the recent deployment of Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks. However, operators cannot opt for deploying more cells, as this will increase their financial investments. Operators are seeking for mobile technologies with higher spectral efficiency in bit/s/Hz, cloud-based intelligent architecture, etc. The operators' requirements are under investigation by 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) to develop the next mobile generation (5G), which should match the technical requirements and economic feasibility. The road to 5G is still not clear. Therefore, telecom players marked a next step towards 5G by issuing new standard version “Release 13”, referred by experts as LTE-Advanced Pro or `4.5G'. In this paper, we discuss the main characteristics of this new release and the planned roadmap to reach the final target of 5G.