The business case for 5G

The business case for 5G

Article:

Article discuss about the debate over investment in 5G technology.

Important Analysis:

• The main advantage of 5G technology is that it will allow users to access high speed internet and more bandwidth.

About 5G Technology – 5G is the next generation mobile Internet connectivity that would offer much faster and more reliable networks, which would form the backbone for the emerging era of Internet of Things (IoT).

Penetration of 4G – As per Mobile Broadband Index released

• Due to launch of 4G service, India witnessed 82 % growth in mobile traffic.
• Mobile data traffic consumption driven by video contributed to 65-67 %.
• Average monthly data usage has been increased by 11 GB which is on par with developed market.
• In terms of connectivity India stands at 109th position in a list of 124 countries which is lower than Pakistan, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. Low connectivity leads to congestion and poor internet speed and it’s getting worse when number of users are increasing.

Argument in Favor of 5G:

• 5G technology is capable to provide 10 times more speed that 4G technology.
• Main advantage claimed is that 5G can resolve the issue of congestion especially when large number of users are concentrated at a single place. This mean user can stream videos regardless of how many people are streaming at the same time.
• From Industries perspective 5G can bring evolution when Internet of Things (IoT) concept, will gain momentum. Industries involved into manufacturing, energy and utilities will have ample of opportunity.
• Latency is very less say about 1-millisecond
• Up to 100x number of connected devices per unit area (compared with 4G LTE)
• 999% availability.
• 90% reduction in network energy usage
• Up to 10-year battery life for low power IoT devices

Argument against 5G in India and Globally.

• Investment – Implementation will require enormous and unjustifiable capital investments.
• Lack of Regulatory bodies in India’s Telecom sector – 5G needs a proper strategy for its implementation and with lack of regulatory bodies, it seems impossible for India to achieve in near future.
• India lacks in Fibre Infrastructure – Optical Fibre plays a key role in the implementation of any new generation of network. Due to lack of Fibre infrastructure, India faces poor quality of service and call drop issues which indicate towards country’s low investment in Fibre and backhaul infrastructure.