Earlier this month, one of the biggest telecom companies in India, Airtel announced its latest acquisition of the 19867.8 MHz spectrum in 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100MHz, 3300 MHz and 26 GHz frequency bands through the auction for Rs 43,084 cr. spectrum secured for 20 years. According to the reports, “Airtel’s 5G service will be available in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities by the end of this year. Airtel’s 5G service across India may have to wait till March 2024”. This means, within the next few years, we will receive the best 5G experience with 100x more enhanced capacity at a relatively cheap cost.
Bharti Airtel claimed that it is all set to lead the 5G revolution of India and provide citizens with top internet speed at less price. With this, Airtel has become the widest mobile broadband service provider in India by creating a nurtured and vibrant ecosystem with partners and start-ups to support quick next-generation adoption. With the new acquisition, the company will be able to meet its primary objectives such as providing the best internet speed, 100x capacity enhancement and power-efficient solutions to meet ESG goals. Initially, 5G services will be provided in key cities of India as they might adopt 5G technology at a faster pace. Additionally, the enterprise segment is also expected to support Airtel’s leadership in the B2B market thereby strengthening the company’s competitive edge.
What is 5G technology?
5G is relatively a new cellular technology released after 4G success. The new cellular network is scalable, more reliable and superfast, allowing everyone and everything to be connected digitally, including machines, humans and devices. Some of the promises made by 5G technology include large network capacity, low latency, multi-Gbps peak data speed, efficiency, reliability and improved availability.
Putting succinctly, with the 5G cellular model, India will experience a superfast data speed with a reliable network provided which Internet of things will become highly popular. The new 5G will also support and contribute to bringing smart technology into homes and workspaces.
How does 5G technology work?
The 5G cellular technology works a similar kind of principle as 4G but with a few technological additions to it. The network is based on the OFDM or Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing technology that can help in minimising the interferences during digital signal transmission sent across several different channels. 5G also utilises a 5G NR air interface alongside OFDM which assist in improved technology and scalability.
Additionally, the 5G technology uses greater bandwidth frequencies like 6 GHz and mm-Wave. There are just 2 frequency bandwidths available right now: 2.4 GHz and 5.1 GHz. In terms of frequency bands, the 5G network is incredibly adaptable. It operates in the high band of mm-Wave, or 24 GHz and higher, as well as the low band of 6 GHz.
5G is able to provide low latency and greater capacity because of this range. The network is not just intended to be a marginal improvement over the mobile broadband era of 4G. The 5G network is designed to be used in national defence missions and connect sizable IoT networks because the world is moving toward the era of IoT setups and smart communication technology.
How fast 5G will be?
5G network is expected to be 500 times faster than the present 4G LTE network. This means you will be able to download an 8k size movie within a few seconds with 5G. Although 5G will be designed to deliver peak data up to 20 Gbps, it will further depend on the region and network quality to receive the promised speed. However, you can initially expect 80% of the promised speed by the company.
5G is also expected to come with ultra-low latency where latency means the delay faced by users before the transfer of data starts when instructed for transfer. With low latency, 5G will definitely make our digital work faster and provide us with an immediate response.
Cons of 5G technology
Although we have heard a lot about 5G and its features, it has a few cons also. Since 5G network implementation requires highly complicated and advanced infrastructure, the network will be limited to a few metropolitan cities initially. It may take a couple of years to reach 5G in every Indian home.
Even though 5G has already been employed in many nations worldwide, it is still in a testing phase and may take some time to function fully in India. Moreover, no exact date has been provided till now but Airtel ensured that they will launch 5G by 2024. One of the biggest drawbacks will be the accommodation of 5G with existing infrastructure. Even smartphones or another digital device used presently may become obsolete.
Key takeaway
India’s move towards digital transformation will be led by Indian telecom company Airtel as it leads the 5G spectrum that can be a game-changer in India’s digital economy. As a result, we can expect a remarkable improvement in Indian enterprises, socio-economic development and an effective drive to digital transformation. 5G is the fifth-generation mobile network that can transmit data at a very high speed as compared to 3G and 4G.
With low latency, 5G will enhance users’ experience besides transferring data with minimal delay. Overall, the 5G rollout in India is expected to enhance the development of remote data monitoring in various sectors like manufacturing, defence, healthcare, and mining among many others.
