The 4G to 5G leap

To truly grasp the influence of 5G, one must clearly articulate the distinctions between it and the previous 4G technology. Through 4G, we gain speed, access, and connectivity, yet 5G goes far beyond the capabilities provided by 4G. Visualize lightning-fast download of an entire HD movie or have a video conference without that annoying time delay—that is the reality of 5G.

The most fascinating thing about 5G is its breathtaking speed. Networking technology with a potential data rate of up to 20 Gbps users can upload and download data extremely faster than 4G. This indicates no longer waiting for file download or video buffering; it is all done in the blink of an eye.

Latency, the time it takes for the transfer of data to start using 5G after sending a command, can be lowered to even one millisecond, which is an extreme feat for applications that operate in real-time. Imagine the necessity of this for vehicles that drive autonomously and must communicate in real-time with each other and their surroundings for the safety of humans.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is growing at a very fast pace, and there are predictions that billions of devices are going to be linked up in the next few years. 5G has the capability of supporting 1 million connected devices per square kilometer which makes it perfect for cities or areas where numerous gadgets have to work at the same time without any interruptions.

Network slicing is one of the most attractive features available in the telecom industry because it allows the creation of virtual networks within a single physical network. Each slice can be customized to the specific application or service, thereby ensuring the best performance and security that is effectively tailored to different user needs.

Transforming personal communication

Going beyond the speed of the internet, 5G technology has broad implications, as it brings about a paradigm shift in the very nature of our face-to-face communication. The emergence of 5G brings voice calls and video conferencing to a new quality level of low-latency and crystal clear thus the voices will be flawless.

What do you reckon about having a video call with your friends or family members where you can see everything without any pixelation and lag? It may as well be the truth that you are next to each other if the quality and effect are so high that you feel like they are in the same room with you.

5G technology can eliminate geographical barriers. Thus, distributed teams and remote employees will be able to communicate smoothly within teams, conduct high-quality video meetings, and share files quickly. This feature can be the key to the efficiency of teams, which can come together quickly and decide issues in different ways and with great effect, thus unleashing a new era of information communication.

Revolutionizing business communication

Businesses are bracing for a transformation in drastic measures of sustainability through 5G deployment in the near future. Through the advancements in communication technology, exceedingly smoother communications will be enabled for both employees internally and customers and partners outside as well.

Within organizations, the staff will experience the joy of quick, up-to-date communication and messaging systems that are no longer. This new environment, as a result, will provide workers with effective and engaging communications, the projects to expand without a single misstep, and the teams to come together with ease, without glitches.

Outside, 5G offers to customer-facing companies emergent and wholly different channels to interact. Businesses can implement state-of-the-art applications which capture real-time data sharing along with enhanced position-based services which help such companies to communicate valuable information and render required assistance to customers.

Picture getting instant messages about special offers or updates directly related to your place. The ability to customize advertising at this level will entirely change customer experiences.

The Internet of Things (IoT) revolution

One of the most thrilling accomplishments of 5G is its ability to support a huge ecosystem of connected devices. We have entered homes, cities, and places of work that are becoming more intelligent by the day, thus the role of IoT in them will become increasingly important.

The use of 5G technology in the smart home will take the performance of such devices to a whole new level. Picture yourself being able to control your lights, thermostat, security cameras, and appliances from your mobile phone with no delay. This smooth interplay is not only good because it is more convenient, but also it enhances the energy-saving feature and security.

Cities worldwide are now embedding smart technologies along with 5G into their systems. The systems of urban areas data traffic management that decreases traffic congestion as per smart waste management systems which collect the trash in an optimum way will transform them into more efficient and sustainable environments.

Impact on healthcare

The healthcare industry would experience significant improvement due to 5G implementation. The telemedicine trend has been growing for a couple of years now; but when it comes to 5G’s ultra-reliable low-latency communication, remote consultations will be even better. Individuals obtain immediate health consultation without traveling long distances, which is crucial for people residing in rural areas and those with mobility disabilities.

Wearable smart devices will bring more benefits, especially, since the increased connectivity would enable them to carry out the primary function of monitoring vital health parameters. The movement of data in real-time between healthcare staff and patients for constant monitoring of health statuses will be possible, and they can thus maintain the health status of the patient uninterrupted, apart from intervening when necessary.

Therefore, 5G technology is a major shift in the way we communicate —and the results are many and dramatic, from improving corporate efficiency and enabling intelligent cities to enhancing human interaction through crystal-clear voice calls and video conferencing.

5G is creating a future without communication barriers where we can connect to anyone or anything at any time, not just for the fast internet. By harnessing this revolutionary technology to its fullest potential, the future is full of possibilities.

The post How 5G Technology is Changing the Way We Communicate appeared first on PC Tech Magazine.

While speaking at the 5th Huawei Africa Mobile Broadband Salon that was held online during the Africacom Africa Tech Festival from 9th to 12th November in Johannesburg, South Africa, Lin Ranhao, CEO of smartphone and tablet maker Tele 1, said that during the coming years, the fastest growth of the 4G user base is likely to come from Africa.

Ranhao said Africa had many 2G users waiting to switch to 4G, but that despite ready infrastructure, 4G penetration is still relatively slow. Suggesting ways to resolve this, Ranhao drew an analogy with China, which was encouraging the production and purchase of electric vehicles through subsidies.

“If the conversion from 2G to 4G is such an urgent task for carriers, we should take a more proactive strategy, and drive this process through subsidies. After all, to bundle carrier plans with subsidized devices is common practice all over the world.”

Mohamed Madkour, Vice President, Carrier Business Marketing and Solutions for Huawei, said universal connectivity in Africa needs proactive collaboration from all stakeholders to develop profitable businesses and also encourage investment.

“Connectivity is the foundation for digital transformation,” says Madkour. Adding that mobile connectivity should be addressed not just in terms of speed or capacity or coverage, but also in terms of ecosystem accessibility, affordability, convenience, and value.

Ranhao then noted that subsidy programs combined with competitively priced entry-level devices would lower the threshold for first-time smartphone buyers, accelerate 4G migration and open up vast opportunities for business, and for human development.

Delegates heard that the ICT industry had never been more important to society and that it was now at the forefront of social development and restoring economies affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Roy Zheng, Overseas Business Development Director for one of the semiconductor maker, said that since the pandemic, the demand for education tablets had exploded. To meet this demand, his company was producing chipsets that enable the production of tablets priced from USD$48.

“The adoption of more effective technology with lower cost can drive 4G adoption,” said Zheng. “We are able to provide chipsets for mobile phones priced from USD$31, which could be the ideal entry-level smartphones for 4G migration.”

The post Affordable Devices a Big Opportunity in Driving 4G Migration in Africa appeared first on PC Tech Magazine.

A recent GSMA report shows that smartphones make up 39% of the 774 million mobile connections in Sub-Saharan Africa. This is projected to grow significantly, but for Africa’s people to fully reap the dividends of mobile connectivity, it is critical that 4G-enabled smartphone handsets be made more easily attainable for the entry-level market.

This calls for financial innovation alongside the technological innovation that characterises the sector. Smartphones must become cheaper if Africa is to unlock the full potential of its people. 

Fortunately, there are already encouraging signs that manufacturers, policymakers and network operators are partnering to integrate such financial innovation into the drive towards digital inclusion. 

In Kenya, Safaricom recently rolled out a device financing programme, in partnership with Google and Teleone, allowing low-income earners in Kenya to access quality 4G phones at low instalments from as little as KSHS20 a day.

The country has a high mobile telephony penetration, but this has traditionally involved 2G phones. The campaign aims to bring a million more customers into the digital economy.

Airtel Africa has expanded 4G adoption on the continent with its “more for more” data offers, increasing average data use, with 4G now accounting for more than 60 per cent of its data revenue.

However, one of the most effective means of encouraging smartphone adoption is reducing the tax burden on mobile phones and services in the form of import duties and sales taxes. In this context, policymakers have a powerful role to play in empowering citizens with easier access to digital connectivity. 

As smartphones become the norm, broadband spectrum can follow suit, and network operators can transition to a 4G and 5G based platforms, with all the high-speed, mass-connectivity benefits that brings.

A surging demand for 4G handsets indicates when a market is ready for the 4G network transition, and it becomes possible to shut down the 3G spectrum, as India was recently able to do. 

At the recent LTE World Summit 2020, Sandeep Gupta, executive vice president of Barthi Airtel in India, said the decision to shut down the 3G network was motivated by two considerations – smartphone penetration, and the right network assets, such as SDR (software Defined Radio) and singleRAN radio, which supports 4G VoLTE.

However, core to this transition is affordable handsets. In China, 4G adoption has been hastened by the introduction of 100 Yuan (R238) handsets, catapulting millions into the 4G and 5G future. 

In South Africa, smartphones have also become significantly more affordable, with handsets such as the Huawei Y5 Literetailing for around R1 300. However, there remains scope to make 4G-enabled smartphones even more affordable, and to truly democratise connectivity. 

Perhaps the simplest way to hasten digital inclusion is a change in our understanding of the place of 4G handsets in our society.

Once smartphones are seen as a commodity, a basic right instead of a luxury, they can be marketed, sold and taxed accordingly, bringing all of humanity into the new digital economy.

The post Affordable Smartphones in Africa Can Guide the Quantum Leap to 4G appeared first on PC Tech Magazine.

Called Long Term Evolution to give it its full name, LTE is the network technology used by 52 percent of the world’s mobile devices. As such, it is this 4G tech that has underpinned the innovative digital initiatives supporting communities during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The pandemic and the lockdown have presented humanity with mortal challenges. People, countries and organisations are rising to these challenges, often using our evolving telecommunications capabilities. However, the new era has come with opportunities, which innovators have also been able to grasp, thanks to 4G connectivity.

This will remain the case over the medium term. 

“Until 2025, LTE will continue to do the heavy lifting,” said Henry Calvert, Head of the Network 2020 future network programme at the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSMA).

“Our 4G networks will remain key. They will continue to be important for the next five-to-seven years,” he said.

Speaking at the recent 2020 GSMA LTE Summit, Calvert said that during the pandemic, LTE was coming to the fore in the provision of telehealth and telemedicine, as well as expanding network services to hot spots to support the ill through hospitals and other healthcare services. 

Besides the significant role 4G plays in supporting health services, it also provides for the data and connectivity needs of the new lifestyles taking shape since lockdown. 

Calvert said operators report that data usage has increased by more than 70 percent per customer during the pandemic, driven by online services and consumption of on-demand video services like Netflix, which recently reported adding 15.8 million subscribers in a year – more than double expectations.

“There has even been a call to on-demand video providers to reduce the quality of video they’re deploying and encourage people to use standard-definition rather than high-definition TV to preserve the capacity in the networks for online education, online health and online businesses,” he said.

“As transformation continues it’s been focused on expanding 4G capacity,” he said. “But the 5G transformation is clearly going to be needed in the future to meet online demands.”

During COVID-19, 4G networks have also been instrumental in supporting contact-tracing apps, which can locate and notify the contacts of infected individuals remotely, while still protecting the privacy of users. LTE networks have also provided free data to support contact tracking to do as much as possible to ensure the infection isn’t spread any further. 

LTE also underpins the recent shifts in lifestyles, with large proportions of the population working, educating their children, shopping and socialising from home using online platforms.

So critical is LTE to this new paradigm, that it must remain the priority infrastructure over the short term, while societies grapple with the pandemic. 

“Our GSMA intelligence groups show that there will be a short-term dip in 5G deployment,” said Calvert. “But that will quickly recover to normal levels. We still see launches of 5G networks, as we now know that delivering on the data demand that has been met by our LTE networks can only get better with 5G.”

The post How 4G Network is Support Communities in the Covid-19 Pandemic appeared first on PC Tech Magazine.

In the 2016 MBiT Index Nokia reported an eight fold increase in India’s 4G LTE device ecosystem for 2015, while other statistics show that access to news, video content, gaming and social media accounts for 60 percent of India’s total mobile data traffic – and it is rising.

To address this growth, Bharti Airtel has acquired more mobile broadband spectrum. The new agreement with Nokia will see it expand the deployment of 4G technology in three new circles in addition to six circles it already serves, enabling launch of new services that started in September.

Bharti Airtel will be able to provide improved coverage and faster mobile Internet access, while laying the foundation for the delivery of enhanced video services and other on-demand applications.

Bharti Airtel in a statement said, they’re pleased to continue leverage Nokia’s leading radio access technology and services expertise to expand 4G capacity and coverage and further increase the quality of service for subscribers.

“This network expansion will provide the capacity, coverage and speeds the company needs to meet the next wave of data demand in India,” said Sanjay Malik, head of India Market at Nokia.

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