It won’t be too far from now when you will be able to download a full-length high definition video on to your hard drive or smartphone in a matter of seconds. Not just download speeds, but also video chats are going to become so realistic that you can literally feel the person’s movements without any lags.
Although, a large portion of the world is yet to get 4G coverage, telecom industry is already envisioning a target market where 5G will have greater implications. 5G or 5th Generation mobile/cellular network is all set to advance the telecom industry to the next level. The Mobile World Congress show that happened at Barcelona saw mobile carrier giants like Nokia, Ericcson and Huawei talking at length about the progress they have achieved in their respective capacity.
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Like any emerging technology, 5G is also surrounded by its own share of doubts and apprehensions. Even in the MWC show questions were posed about its capabilities, capacity and benefits that consumers stand to gain from its introduction. What we can understand from the response of network stalwarts is that, it might take a little longer for 5G to become commonplace all over the world.
There are practical difficulties which, if network carriers manage to overcome, will completely revolutionize the way we communicate, consume and exchange digital information. Once introduced, with 5G network connection you can download a HD movie of the size of 8GB in less than six seconds!
The challenges faced in introducing 5G
The common and single largest challenge that every network carrier trying to introduce 5G is facing relates to its standardization. At present there is no definite standard for the 5G network. There are multiple groups who are working on to create standards based on interoperability and compatibility with previous generations of 4G, 3G, 2G, etc.
Things are still underway to make the technology future proof and not being redundant to specific set of customers. That said, every network carrier acknowledges the need to create a global standard. Whether they will join hands to achieve this common goal is something that we have to wait and see.
Key goals in standardizing 5G
As part of standardizing 5G mobile/cellular network, network carriers are trying to increase the data download speed to 10Gbps. At present, 4G offers data download speed of one gigabit per second, but as users of the technology, we are convinced that this is not the actual scenario.
Moreover, 4G has a data latency (time taken to send a packet of date across to another device) of 50 milliseconds which 5G, hopefully will contain within one millisecond. 5G will also make data sharing between connected devices faster making applications like Internet of Things, driverless cars, etc. a reality.
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If all things go smooth, we can expect 5G to reach our devices by 2020. We don’t definitely expect 5 G to become a reality in the next couple of years as LTE itself is yet to become popular. However, by 2020 we can expect 5G to be commonplace all around the world.
