The fronthaul packet transport standard supports enabling the implementation of critical 5G technologies, such as massive MIMO, beamforming, carrier aggregation, CoMP, and scalable centralized/virtualized radio access network (C-RAN/V-RAN) functions. This standard simplifies network design and operation, increases network flexibility and efficiency in resource utilization, and lowers cost by leveraging existing, mature packet-based solutions (e.g., Ethernet) for vital functions, such as QoS, synchronization, and data security. The fronthaul architecture provides unified management and control solutions, common networking protocols, and universal network elements, thus facilitating migration to future C-RAN/V-RAN mobile networks. This standard improves bandwidth efficiency, network scalability, timing, and synchronization performance; and preserves and enhances the ability to deploy cooperative radio functions.