Will 5G be the next game changer for India's Digital Revolution

India’s biggest ever spectrum auction is going on at the moment. As per media reports, 72 gigahertz (GHz) of airwaves valued at Rs. 4.3 lakh crores is in offer and telecom industry is all set to make another huge investment in 5G in the days to come.?

5G promises a much faster speed than the current 4G technology or the now-ancient 3G services and here are some insights about 5G technology.

What is 5G? Who invented it?

The ‘G’ refers to the generation of mobile network which essentially means, 5G stands for the fifth generation of mobile network.?The creation of 5G cannot be attributed to a single individual or a company. However, as per chip maker - Qualcomm, “There are several companies within the mobile ecosystem that are contributing to bringing out 5G technology”

How does 5G work?

The wireless networks composed of cell sites and wireless networks are divided into sectors that transfer data among themselves via radio waves. 4G technology uses high-power, large cell towers to transmit signals over long distances. On the other hand, 5G uses multiple small cell stations that can be mounted on a regular rooftop or a lamppost. While 4G’s large-cell structure had more reach, 5G needs a number of small cell stations to be set up over short distances to ensure faster transfer of data through radio waves. 5G uses millimeter wave (mmWave) to transmit data, which uses a band of radio spectrum between 30GHz and 300GHz. To put it simply, this ensures a much faster transfer of data, alongside offering a better capacity when compared to previous generations.?

How fast 5G is going to be ?

The maximum speed of various generations of mobile networks are as given below;

1G: 2.4Kbps

2G: 50Kbps

3G: 2Mbps

4G: 100Mbps

5G: 20Gbps

These are broad speed benchmarks and actual usage speed will differ from one service provider to another, depending on region of operation. However it broadly shows 5G has capability to offer 200 times faster speed as compared 4G. ?It is also expected that it can support up to 1000 more devices vis-à-vis 4G.

?What impact will it bring to consumers ?

Most of the digital revolutions in India happened after 4G which came in early 2010s, while many pockets of rural India are still running on 3G network. Once 5G is rolled out to the public use, it will offer greater speeds, more reliability, and nearly unnoticeable latency. ??This will further enable digital transactions and digital activities to happen at a much more faster speed.

What impact will it bring to corporate/ business entities ?

When digital transactions happen faster, businesses are also going to get indirectly benefited with higher number of digital transactions happening faster and flawlessly. Another important aspect to consider is this time government is offering spectrum to businesses for the first time which they can use for captive consumption. So far, large corporate consumers like data centre operators and IT companies had to ride on to telecom networks for establishing connections between their multiple business locations. With spectrum being available means, these large corporate consumers can directly establish their own networks if they wish to do so. ???

What is the Status of roll-outs ?

5G is in nascent stage at the moment and it will take some time for the consumers to start getting benefit of the 5G network. Department of Telecom had launched a 5G test bed in May this year in association with 8 organizations led by IIT Madras where many technology providers are testing their devices and solutions. Post auction and documentation procedures, telecom companies need to install their infrastructure before the services can be offered to consumers. ?As per media reports, we can start seeing the services going live at least in a few metro cities by end of this year.

What are the challenges ahead?

As 5G works at a millimeter wave frequency, it needs wider coverage of fiber networks to setup 5G towers. Still in many parts of rural India, the fiber network reach is limited and hence a lot of investments will be required to lay fiber network across all parts of the country to be able to get make 5G services available to rural masses.??Also significant investments will be required for replacing all existing devices with 5G supported devices both by telecom providers and consumers.

Conclusion ?

5G will definitely be a big game changer in the digital revolution of India in the years to come. Consumers and businesses will equally benefit from this transformation. With internet speed going 200x, Video based businesses are going to flourish in the next many years. ?