Investment towards 4G almost over: Airtel

Subject : Science and Technology

Section: Awareness in IT

Evolution from First Generation to Fifth Generation

1G was launched in the 1980s and worked on analog radio signals and supported only voice calls.
2G was Launched in the 1990s which uses digital radio signals and supported both voice and data transmission with a Bandwidth of 64 Kbps.
3G was launched in the 2000s with a speed of 1 Mbps to 2 Mbps and it has the ability to transmit telephone signal including digitised voice, video calls and conferencing.
4G was launched in 2009 with a peak speed of 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps and it also enables 3D virtual reality.

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.

Where does India stand on the deployment of 5G?

Companies, both telecom service providers and their equipment vendors, have completed lab trials of 5G network components but are yet to commence field trials, which were initially scheduled to happen last year.
For the same, telecom companies are awaiting allocation of test spectrum from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).
The service providers have already tied up with equipment makers like Nokia, Ericsson, etc for deploying their 5G networks