5G Broadcast is one of several working titles for a new broadcasting mode. There is not yet an official designation like DVB-T2 HD. The process behind it is called FeMBMS (Further evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service) and is based on the LTE and 5G mobile communications standards. Standardization of the process was completed in 2017. Release 16 of the 3GPP standard then came in June 2020, and since then work has focused on Release 17 and 18.
5G Broadcast provides new possibilities for broadcasting to mobile devices. For the first time, high-power high-tower (HPHT) applications will be possible in downlink-only mode, for example via the existing broadcast network. In regions and large cities that are difficult to reach, cellular base stations can supplement the network.
On smartphones and tablets, the existing digital broadcast technologies DAB+ and DVB-T2 HD could not establish themselves for various reasons. A broadcast mode has the decisive advantage that data does not have to be sent to just one (point-to-point) as in the past, but to thousands of subscribers simultaneously and just once (point-to-multipoint). We have often reported on the fact that, for example, there was a complete breakdown in streaming during the transmission of a soccer match. These problems are a thing of the past with 5G Broadcast.