5 G TRIALS

5 G TRIALS

Subject : Science & tech

Context : The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on Tuesday gave permission to Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) to conduct trials for the use and application of 5G technology.

Concept :

• The applicant TSPs include Bharti Airtel Ltd., Reliance JioInfocomm Ltd., Vodafone Idea Ltd. and MTNL.
• These TSPs have tied up with original equipment manufacturers and technology providers, which are Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung and C-DOT, a statement from the Ministry of Communications said.
• The duration of the trials is for six months, which includes a time period of two months for the procurement and setting up of the equipment.

5 G Technology

• 5G or fifth generation is the latest upgrade in the long term evolution (LTE) mobile broadband networks.
• The first generation of networks allowed only mobile voice calls to be made, while the second generation allowed mobile voice calls as well as sending of short text messages.
• It was the third generation or 3G network which allowed web browsing on mobile devices, the speed and latency of which improved with fourth-generation or 4G networks.
• The 5G networks will have even faster speeds with latency down to between 1-10 milliseconds.
• Note: Latency is the time a device takes to communicate with the network, which stands at an average of up to 50 milliseconds for 4G networks across the world.

How does 5G work?

• All 5G networks chiefly operate on three spectrum bands.
• The low-band spectrum has been proven to have great coverage and works fast even in underground conditions. However, the maximum speed limit on this band is 100 Mbps (Megabits per second).
• In the mid-band spectrum, though the speeds are higher, telcos across the world have registered limitations when it comes to coverage area and penetration of telephone signals into buildings.
• The high-band spectrum offers the highest speed but has extremely limited network coverage area and penetration capabilities.
• The telcos using this band rely on the existing LTE networks and will need to install a number of smaller towers to ensure adequate coverage and high-speed performance.