5G Telecom Services to be Rolled Out in 2022

In News 

• The Fifth Generation or 5G telecom services are set to be rolled out in selected cities in India in 2022. 

Major Points 

• The cities which are set to get the 5G telecom services in 2022 include Gurugram, Bangalore, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Delhi, Jamnagar, Ahmadabad, Chennai, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Pune, and Gandhinagar.
• Why were these cities chosen?

• Because of their telecom services penetration, making it easier to convince more people to upgrade from 4G.
• Since the costs for 5G services are initially going to be on the higher side, it would be wise to test the service in areas where more consumers would find them affordable. 
• Cities provide all kinds of locations, such as walled complexes and open spaces, that are suitable for testing various 5G bands.

India’s Progress in 5G

Beginning: 

• The Indigenous 5G Testbed project started in 2018 and is set to be completed by December 31, 2021. 
  • It aims to capitalise on the better network speeds and strength that the technology promised.
• The project has been funded by the Department of Telecom. The department has spent Rs224 crore on this project.

Present status 

• Bharti Airtel has conducted trials in partnership with Ericsson for mobile phones already in the market.
• Reliance Jio Infocomm has completed building its indigenous 5G network and is now conducting trials of connected drones, speed test and other aspects.

• Apart from the leading telecom operators and smartphone manufacturers, the government is also involved actively to facilitate the rollout of 5G services. 

Benefits 

• It will enable the development, testing and proliferation of 5G technology system components, cross-sectoral use cases, besides setting up the foundation for the development of the “6G Technology landscape” in the country.
• The users will be able to stream videos with multiple camera angles during sports matches or even play immersive video games using VR headsets or other accessories.
• It will also enable a mesh of connected Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled devices and services with zero-fail rate, as in the case of connected cars.
•  Other Benefits 

• Healthcare: Healthcare providers can create sensor networks to track patients and share information faster than ever before.
• Public Safety: A vast network and rapid response times mean that public works can respond to incidents and emergencies in seconds rather than minutes, and municipalities can react fast and with reduced costs.
• Autonomous Vehicles: 5G will allow vehicles to communicate between themselves and with infrastructure on the road, improving safety and alerting drivers to travel conditions and performance information.

Challenges

• Lack of a clear road map of spectrum allocation and 5G frequency bands.
• Lack of flow of cash and adequate capital with the Telcos.

Suggestions

• 5G will require a fundamental change to the core architecture of the communication system and India should be ready with a robust, scalable, and intelligent infrastructure that is capable of handling massive traffic growth.
• Additional investment in billions is required to seamlessly implement 5G networks.
• India presents a unique telecom landscape where a multi-generational transition is evolving. Telecom operators need to support a wide spectrum of hybrid technologies. For example, technology that is compatible with 2G, transitioning to 4G and then 5G, supporting remote rural applications, and so on.

Source: IE