5G Services to be rolled out in India

5G Services to be rolled out in India

Subject : Science & technology

Context : Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch 5G services at the sixth edition of Indian Mobile Congress (IMC 2022) scheduled to be held in Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.

Concept :

• The telecom giants, including Reliance Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone-Idea took part in the mega auction for spectrum that concluded on August 1 where they bid for a combined value of Rs 1.56 lakh crore.
• Various previous reports suggest that Airtel and Jio will be the front-runners in launching 5G services in India.
• The companies will initially launch 5G in a few cities across the country. This means that not all users will get access to the 5G service this year.
• In order to get 5G connectivity, one must have a 5G-enabled smartphone/ tablet. A report says that 9.7% of smartphones in use in India are 5G-capable.
• A 4G SIM can work in 5G-powered phones, however, you won’t be able to leverage the 5G capabilities to the fullest. To enjoy the 5G network to its maximum potential, one is required to have a 5G SIM with a 5G phone.

About 5G Technology

• 5G is the latest upgrade in the Long-Term Evolution (LTE) mobile broadband networks with reduced latency than 4G.
  • 5G technology offers an extremely low latency rate, the delay between the sending and receiving information.
  • From 200 milliseconds for 4G, 5G brings it down to 1 millisecond(1ms).
• It works in three bands of the spectrum with their respective pros and cons.
  • Low Band Spectrum
    • It shows great promise in terms of coverage and speed of internet and data exchange with a maximum speed limited to 100 Mbps (Megabits per second).
    • Telcos can use and install it for commercial cellphone users who may not have specific demands for very high-speed internet.
    • It may not be optimal for the specialised needs of the industry.
  • Mid-Band Spectrum
    • It offers higher speeds compared to the low band but has limitations in terms of coverage area and penetration of signals.
    • It may be used by industries and specialised factory units for building captive networks that can be moulded into the needs of that particular industry.
  • High-Band Spectrum
    • It offers the highest speed of all three bands, but has extremely limited coverage and signal penetration strength.
    • Internet speeds have been tested to be as high as 20 Gbps (gigabits per second).

• Global Status of 5G
  • More than governments, global telecom companies have started building 5G networks and rolling it out to their customers on a trial basis.
  • Telcos in developed countries like the US and China have already been providing commercial 5G connections to their users.
  • South Korean company Samsung started researching 5G technology in 2011 and has taken the lead in building the hardware for 5G networks for several companies.

Benefits

• It will enable the development, testing and proliferation of 5G technology system components, cross-sectoral use cases, besides setting up the foundation for the development of the “6G Technology landscape” in the country.
• The users will be able to stream videos with multiple camera angles during sports matches or even play immersive video games using VR headsets or other accessories.
• It will also enable a mesh of connected Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled devices and services with zero-fail rate, as in the case of connected cars.
• Healthcare: Healthcare providers can create sensor networks to track patients and share information faster than ever before.
• Public Safety: A vast network and rapid response times mean that public works can respond to incidents and emergencies in seconds rather than minutes, and municipalities can react fast and with reduced costs.
• Autonomous Vehicles: 5G will allow vehicles to communicate between themselves and with infrastructure on the road, improving safety and alerting drivers to travel conditions and performance information.