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5G in India: the way forward
5G in India: the way forward

July 22, 2022

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The fifth generation or 5G is the next level of mobile network that will shape the Industry 4.0. The 5G network will experience very little interference from surrounding signals. It operates at high speeds as the frequency is very high.

The Evolution of 5G

Since the first time 1G came into use, we have come a long way.

  • In the 1G era, phones were as big as a briefcase and communication was limited to a few people for professional use.
  • 2G came to action when demand for personal use came.
  • With 3G came phones that could fit in our pockets.
  • Because of 4G, we got fast streaming smartphones, app stores and video streaming.
  • 5G is now going to be a game changer that would reshape both our professional and personal lives by enabling new use cases like connective vehicles, AR, enhanced video & gaming, and many more.

Difference between 4G and 5G

When we compare 4G with 5G, we can see 5G is better in every way. 5G uses new digital technology and a millimetre-wave spectrum that not only enables more devices to get connected in a geographic area but also improves speed and coverage.

 

Present Scenario in India

Commercial 5G networks had begun deploying in 2020 worldwide. U.S. and South Korea have deployed 5G to about 50 and 85 cities respectively. 

In India, the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) has confirmed that the 5G services will be available in 13 cities in 2022. The DoT has allocated the spectrum for 5G trials in different bands. The trials will be followed by the spectrum allocation for 5G commercial deployment. As per Nokia MBiT Report (Mar 2022), India is expected to have around 10 million active 5G devices in use and that figure is expected to have grown significantly since then.

With increase in cellular bandwidth, blazing speed and low latency, 5G promises to boost the IoT by making it easy for many devices to connect, communicate and be controlled remotely.

A 5G world of the future is going to have smart city infrastructure, self-driving cars, and robotic surgeries as one of the many real-use cases.

Way ahead

While there are many opportunities and advantages of the 5G services, there are few challenges as well. Below are some expected challenges with some proposed solutions:

  • Financial aid: As deployment of 5G network is expensive, both central and state governments may need to allow flow of investments through public-private partnerships (PPPs) and facilitate investment funds on a nominal interest basis. The government should also allow full foreign direct investment in the telecom sector.
  • Taxation: A certain fees may be levied by central and state governments for operators to afford deployment of 5G equipment. To help in the smooth deployment of fibre in India, removing tax burden for deploying fibre networks will help reduce associated costs and will promote investment.
  • Prices:  the government has complete control on the spectrum bands. Managing these design of spectrums with help control prices to be paid by people. The pricing needs to be affordable and maintained to manage the financial stress in the sector. The prices need to be sustainable for rural integration as well.
  • Infrastructure readiness: ahead of the 5G roll out, the fiberisation of sites and number of towers needs are far behind the ideal picture. More than 70% towers need to fiberize for the launch in India. To make it a success, it is necessary that there are investments made to densify networks by giving provision of fiber, small cells and sharing active infrastructure. In terms of the fiber laid, the fiber kilometre (fkm) per capita in India is much less as compared to other key markets. The Indian government is planning to set up a National Fibre Authority (NFA) to take care of fiberisation.

While India has huge potential for 5G, permissions and policies to aid the development of infrastructure need to be setup and fast tracked.

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