FEATURE: 5G
T
he telecommunications
industry has seen a new
mobile standard being
launched every 10 years. The first
generation of analog based mobile
networks or 1G was released in
1982. The second generation
of mobile networks or 2G was
launched in 1991, and introduced
digital protocols leading to GPRS
and EDGE extensions. Subsequently
much faster and efficient mobile
networks, 3G and 4G were released
and standardised in 2001 and
2012. It is expected that 5G mobile
networking technology may start
appearing after 2020, based on the
same ten-year development cycle,
rule of thumb.
Some of the expected
characteristics of 5G mobile
networks will be significantly
faster download speeds of the
theoretical order of 10,000 Mbps,
ability to support more complex
mobile applications, higher density
of broadband users, support for
massive machine communications,
support for device communications,
support for Internet of Things, as
well as lower battery consumption
and lower latency.
“5G is not just another G. It is
much more than that. Our society
has been through a series of
industrial revolutions, each making
fundamental changes to the way
we live. The 5G era will be based on
cloud and digitalisation, bringing
augmented and virtual reality into
mainstream use, enabling billions
of sensors not just connected
but feeding and fed by artificial
intelligence, and enabling smarter
factories and processes,” says Aji Ed,
Head of Technology, Middle East
and Africa at Nokia.
Other than performance
characteristics, critics argue that
the standards of benchmarking
5G networks against 4G advanced
networks, should move to other
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areas including use cases. All players
within the industry are preparing for
the new standard of 5G networks
including carriers, processor
manufacturers, OEMs, application
and solution providers.
Another important reality check
is while the industry shares a
common vision and standard,
there is still no official standard
for 5G networks. Says Andrey
Koynov, Chief Technology Officer
at InfiNet Wireless, “There are
no products that support 5G at
this time, because there is no
approved standard to define
the fifth generation of mobile
wireless systems. It is now in the
definition, research and proof-of-
concept stage, so the actual 5G
deployments and the actual mass
products and 5G-based service are
a few years down the road.”
The US Federal Communications
Commission has approved the
spectrum for 5G, which includes
28 Ghz, 37 GHz and 39 GHz
bands. These frequency bands
are also referred to as millimetre
wave bands, in relation to their
wavelengths and in comparison,
to the longer wavelengths used in
1G, 2G, 3G technology networks.
Higher the frequency and
smaller the wave length of radio
transmissions used, the better is
its capability to carry data and
support much larger number of
multiple users per channel.
A recent report indicates that
Middle East mobile operators
are investing $50 billion in 5G
networking infrastructure over
the next few years. “VMware is
working closely with Middle East
service providers on public-private
partnerships to deliver 5G network
infrastructure,” says Ahmed Auda,
Managing Director, Middle East
and North Africa at VMware. While
many service providers are eager
to deploy 5G solutions, there are
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