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Telecom Business Review | Wednesday, February 09, 2022
The evolution of 5G and the basic idea of its working.
FREMONT, CA : The extensive use of mobile and networking devices, through the years, has made it possible for the significant growth of wireless network facilities. Such networks now have reached a new high-speed and low latency standard owing to the launch of 5G in 2019. Initially, 5G New Radio (5GNR) was introduced as a part of Release 15 by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project(3GPP). This specification exceeded the download speed of the previous standard and the actual speed of 5G depends on the frequency of the technology that is being used. The high-band delivers a speed of more than 1Gbps if the user is up to a range of 1000 feet from a base station. The user needs to be closer to the base station to get maximum coverage. In the case of low-band, the speed delivered is a little over 50 Mbps which is better than the speed of the 4G LTE. Mobile carriers around the world currently provide the mid-band which offers the user the speed of 100 Mbps.
The Network Response Time (NRA) of the actual 5G spectrum is 10 milliseconds (ms) to 20 ms which is way less than the current NRA of 4G LTE, which is 70 ms. This is possible by the low latency capability of the network. But a majority of the operational 5G networks currently are non-standalone(NSA) making them dependent on the 4G core for unctions such as mobility, routing, and forwarding. Even though the standalone (SA) specifications with 5G cores were developed in 2018, it is yet to be implemented by the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs).
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The MNOs have defined the two types of 5G networks namely, Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) and Mobile 5G. FWA is the broadband connection provided wirelessly for residences and businesses. They use radio signals from small cells in the base stations to provide wireless coverage through streetlights and telephone poles, replacing the need for wires. As for 5G mobile, the NSA and SA networks are being implemented. The broadening implementation of commercial 5G technology has paved the way for the 5G for enterprises. The companies initiating the use of this technology will need Radio Access Network hardware, 5G core software, and compatible devices.
At present, 5G is available in most parts of Asia, Europe, North America, and some parts of Africa. According to the internet performance metric analyst company Ookla, the U.S. has the highest 5G availability at 49.2 per cent, followed by the Netherlands and South Korea with 45.1 and 43.8 per cent respectively. Also, Ookla mentions that Seoul, South Korea has the highest download speed for a median 5G, followed by Oslo, Norway.
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