5G : the good, the bad & the ugly

5G “the dream”: the connected world

In the future, not only more things will be connected, but they are also going to be on the move and increasingly interacting with each other versus interacting with people.

5G is to the future connected world, what railways were to trains and mobility in the last century. This technology is the first step of enabling networks capable of supporting the “Internet of Things – IoT”. It will not just power telecoms but much of the economic activity, making wireless networks one of a country's most critical infrastructure.

5G networks offer increased capacity in terms of bandwidth, and number of connected devices, with increased reliability and fast response times. For these reasons, it is often considered a vital technology for IoT, in which all devices, whether cars, industrial robots, buildings or even homes, will talk to each other and to Internet in general. This, in turn, will fuel the “fourth industrial revolution” in which data, and autonomous decision-making, will mark the biggest change to come.

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5G “the good”: Lower cost for a better service

“Software is eating the world” and 5G is no exception. It was designed from the start as a set of services that could be turned into software, or “virtualized”. This trend started 20 years ago, with virtualized servers, then moved to virtualized networks “software-defined networks - SDN”, before taking over radio functions to virtualize them. This led into the creation of the cloud giants lowering the cost of running the IT infrastructure.

The telecom industry is experiencing the same evolution, becoming less proprietary, by adopting open radio access standards “O-RAN” which make it possible to virtualize ever more functions, previously performed by hardware. As a result, networks can morph into platforms for add-ons, just as mobiles phones have morphed into smartphones that can run apps. There are now fully virtualized mobile networks, built on cheap hardware and controlled by software in a cloud-like way.

Fortunately, engineers can now reproduce all functions of a network into software. This in turn reduces connectivity costs per device while improving quality of service, and enabling flexibility and agility in maintaining and upgrading the telecom infrastructure. As a result, the network will be cheaper to set up and operate. It will also be fully automated, right down to virtual labs where new services will be tested. This should allow operators to quickly deploy specialized networks, for example to connect equipment in mines or farms.

All this is already a reality with some operators. Instead of the bulky base stations “BTS” used in conventional mobile networks, their technology is housed in boxes attached to antenna poles. These are connected directly to the Edge or to the Cloud, which hosts the virtual parts of the network. The only thing carriers will buy from telecom equipment manufacturers is software.

Although the hyper-connected future might not be as imminent as one might think, 5G has already other advantages for current telecom operators. Operators can optimize radio spectrum usage, including slicing their networks and aggregating demand or providing private networks. More importantly today, challengers will be able to grab market share from historical players by providing better services at lower costs, while being ready for future evolutions.

In fact, the deployment of 5G requires a change in corporate culture. Small telecom operators are adopting 5G infrastructure faster than incumbents are. They are more nimble, and willing to focus on speed of deployment and agility rather than mere purchasing power and reduced acquisition costs. Their teams work much like the cloud giants in flat structures, organized into “devops” teams that push projects into production in weeks while the traditional operators are still holding on to traditional RFP processes that drag-on for months, focusing on retrofitting existing infrastructures, or buying the cheapest solution disregarding the new features.

The biggest challenge facing Telcos is understanding the ultimate value that 5G can unlock. Many people persist in identifying a collection of exceptional 5G use cases and justifying the return on investment while dismissing the quick wins in terms of quality of service. They are almost oblivious to the risk of losing current market share to more nimble challengers who adopt 5G faster. Another challenge we see organizations struggling with is the complexity of it all. Understanding the technology, prioritizing 5G, modeling the financial impacts, navigating regulatory considerations, and working on managing change and trade-offs that impact key factors such as price, performance, and control.

At Delta Electronics, we have helped several Telcos and Towercos to deploy standardized 5G-ready data center solutions into their existing networks. "The best advice we can give is to take advantage of any project to deploy solutions that would support existing technology while being 5G-ready" said Motaz al Maani, Head of MEA Telecom Power Supply at Delta Electronics

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5G “the bad”: ?it’s not going to be easy

Most analysts believe the main driver of adoption will be consumers eager to stream even more video through their smartphones. That is why many telecom executives dismiss 5G as mere hype by manufacturers of networking kits. They are partly right; 5G will not profoundly change the lives of consumers, the more systematic changes will take longer to materialize.

On one hand, 5G promises millions of faster connections and millions of connections simultaneously (going from 60,000 devices per Km2 to one million) but 4G can be "twisted" to give this same result, though it is not able to do both higher bandwidth and denser connections at the same time. 5G frequencies, grouped around 3Ghz, allow transmission speeds ten times higher than 4G; the new spectrum also supports 20-25% more capacity than 2GHz or lower bands. However, higher frequencies will raise interference issues with existing devices such as aircraft and medical devices.

On the other hand, equipment based on "O-RAN" specifications is not yet mature, at least for some time, and the necessary control software may have to run on specialized equipment near the antenna rather than on general-purpose servers in distant data centers.

As a result, operators will roll out 5G more gradually than previous generations. Some will first use the technology to provide ultra-fast "fixed" wireless links between fixed antennas, which is less fiddly to do. Other operators may use 5G to make the most of the spectrum they already own, while others will weave 5G networks to serve densely populated cities.

Whatever path the operator chooses, he must do it quickly. Operators should start looking not only at technology but also at what it means in terms of organization, structure and methods of project and change management. They should treat their suppliers as strategic partners for the bumpy road ahead.

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5G “the ugly”: Geopolitical and market tensions

As the economist magazine puts it: “Western spooks have mused publicly about the risk that Huawei’s kit might be siphoning valuable data back to Beijing, or that it comes with “back doors” that would allow state-sponsored hackers to eavesdrop on, or even disrupt, another country’s communications.” A rigid reaction to this risk could lead to what some people call the “digital Berlin wall”.

5G developments are also bringing major cloud providers into the telecom world. Operators, in Europe and elsewhere, fear losing market share to tech giants like Amazon, Google or Microsoft.

However this plays out, the telecommunications sector will be very different in a few years. The competition for control of the telecom cloud, and in particular, its "Edge" (name given to what remains of the BTS base station) will only intensify. Whoever is in charge of these digital portals will have the fastest access to consumers and their data, the main currency of this new world.

Cloud companies currently have the technological advantage and will try to eat away as much market share as possible before massive 5G adoption and rollout. On the other side, Telcos own the relationships with customers and know how to manage networks and own the radio spectrum. Eventually, cloud providers and network operators will likely come to an agreement.

The truth is, for Telcos, just selling connectivity is not going to cut it, they will have to decide if they are going to become tech companies managing large set of datacenters or remain utility companies. This will all happen so fast that companies will have to make use of each phase so when true 5G arrives, they can live up to the hype.

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About Us:

Author: Said el Bouhali, Head of Business Development for Telecom Data centers in MEA.

Eltek Power is part of Delta Electronics Group, the world leader in energy solutions for telecom operators. We provide data center and 48V direct current solutions to host 4G and 5G radio everywhere. Our solutions are standardized to optimize acquisition, deployment and maintenance costs. These solutions are also flexible to support existing networks while preparing them to accommodate 5G and Mobile Edge.