Explainer: What is the 5G network, When will it be launched in India?

People are excited about the super-speed wireless network which would probably bring a change in day-to-day lives.

Hyderabad: The mobile network that’s used around the world to make calls, send messages, surf the web is the 4th generation network, but for a long time there have been talks about the replacement of 4G with 5G.

People are excited about the super-speed wireless network which would probably bring a change in day-to-day lives. And as we forge ahead in the tech-led world, there is a greater need to catch up with new generation networks. So, let’s get into the article to know much about the 5G network and its launch in India.

---

What’s 5g?

As the name suggests, 5G is the fifth-generation cellular network technology. This new generation network would probably be faster than ever and it would handle more connected devices. Not just that, it promises to deliver data speed at a rate 100 times faster than 4G network. It is specially designed to address issues like speed, latency and utility, which the earlier generations and the current generation of mobile networks could not address.

How does it work?

The fifth-generation network majorly works in three bands– low, mid and high-frequency spectrum; all three of these bands have their uses as well as limitations.

The maximum speed in the low band spectrum is limited to 100 Mbps (Megabits per second). This band has shown great promise for coverage, speed of interest and data exchange. This indicates that the telcos can install it for commercial cell phone users who may not have demands for substantially higher speed internet.

The mid-band spectrum offers lesser speed than the high-band spectrum and higher speed than the low-band spectrum, and this band has limitations for coverage area and penetration of signals.

The last and final band spectrum provides the highest speed, but with limited coverage area and signal penetration strength. The internet speed in this spectrum is noted to be as high as 20 Gbps (gigabits per second). While the highest internet speed in the current generation network is recorded at 1Gbps.

When will 5G be launched in India?

With many mobile companies already launching 5G phones, even before the launch of the network. People are thronging to buy advanced phones to move ahead in the game of using technology. But, we don’t exactly know the launch date of this network but probably 2022 would be the year.

Which cities will experience 5G first and why?

Recently, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has said that the major cities in India— Gurugram, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Delhi, Jamnagar, Ahmadabad, Chennai, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Pune, and Gandhi Nagar would be among the first cities to enjoy 5G services in 2022.

Three giant private telecom service providers in India—Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio Infocomm, and Vodafone Idea, have been working with telecom equipment makers such as Ericsson and Nokia and conducting trials at test sites in these cities.

The reasons why these big cities were chosen for the trials is their telecom services penetration, making it easier to convince more people to upgrade from 4G.

Moreover, the costs of the 5G services are noted to be high, so it would be perspicacious to test the services in cities where more consumers would find them affordable.

---

Now you can get handpicked stories from Telangana Today on Telegram everyday. Click the link to subscribe.

Click to follow Telangana Today Facebook page and Twitter .

---