National Post (National Edition)
Hold on tight: 5G revolution is like no other
WHOEVER TAKES US INTO ANOTHER BRAVE NEW WORLD OF TECH, ‘THINGS’ WILL NEVER BE THE SAME
It was a bombshell story. What might otherwise have been an innocuous piece of Government decision-making, to allow a little-known Chinese vendor to work on the U.K.’s new mobile phone network, exploded on to the front pages.
The vital importance of 5G, the futuristic mobile network technology that is set to take over the airwaves in the coming weeks and months, was finally in the open.
The scandal over who would build the network, and whether the U.K. should allow the Chinese firm Huawei to work on it, took down a Government minister and threatened international relations. The Daily Telegraph’s report on the Huawei controversy in April lit a fuse in the U.K. and still rumbles on as Britain decides on the future of 5G technology.
All because 5G technology, an international upgrade of global phone networks, will cost (and make) many billions of dollars, potentially revolutionizing global communications and launching a wave of transformative consumer technologies, with new smartphones, appliances, robots and connected cars.
Most simply, 5G is a progression from the 4G that billions of us use now to connect to the internet on our smartphones. Yet while the addition of another G may not sound particularly exciting, this technology, which enables download speeds 10 to 20 times the current rate, permits many more devices to be connected, and improves the responsiveness of wireless technologies, is likely to have a profound impact. It is the reason the Huawei saga has and inflamed tensions and why nations, politicians, spies and big business have all been vying to dominate the first launches.
“The evolutionary steps taken to achieve previous generations of wireless technology — 2G, 3G and 4G — were akin to travelling from London to Manchester on horseback,” said Regius Professor Rahim Tafazolli, founder and director of the 5G Innovation Centre at the University of Surrey. “5G is not an evolutionary step, it is a revolutionary one. We will be jumping off the horse and on to a rocket ship. The sheer speed is only one benefit of the technology. 5G will also allow us to transform industries thanks to its ability to connect machines to wireless networks.”
A WHOLE NEW NETWORK
“There has been a major acceleration in just one year,” says Enrico Salvatori, president of Europe at 5G chipmaker Qualcomm.
We are speaking in April at the height of 5G fever. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X50 5G modems form the backbone of the first wave of 5G devices that will make their way into the hands of consumers. The company has just announced deals with several smartphone manufacturers.
It’s not just phones. 5G promises to unleash a wave of digital connectivity. By next year, analysts estimate, there will be 10 billion socalled “Internet of Things” devices, from AI speakers to cars. By 2025, it will be 22 billion — a conceptual leap about what the internet is for. “5G infrastructure is more than connectivity for humans; it is for things,” says Salvatori.
As the internet has revolutionized human communications and transactions, from video calls to social media to eBay, 5G will extend that to inanimate objects. It promises a world in which car can communicate with car, with the road, with the people around it. In this vision 5G will unleash a torrent of innovation.
“5G will be like the electricity network,” Salvatori says. “It will be instrumental to new developments.” 5G evangelists say we cannot even imagine what most of those will look like. But most point to a few obvious uses: autonomous robots in mines, smart cities or super-responsive remote operating theatres. Immersive entertainment that blurs the line between television and video gaming.
HOW EXACTLY DOES 5G WORK?
“You get ultra high speed and ultra low latency,” says Brett Tarnutzer, head of spectrum at European telecoms trade body the GSMA. In essence, 5G offers large amounts of fresh bandwidth. Making the virtual pipes of information bigger improves capacity and boosts download speeds.
Not that 5G will do away with 4G, at least initially. Rather it will add a layer. Today’s mobile masts will not come down. They will be supplemented by countless smaller base stations that transmit signals to mobile devices. These stations, antennas with wireless boxes housing technology built by the likes of Nokia, Ericsson and Huawei, transmit wireless signals at much higher wavelengths than today. They will soon become familiar on roofs, street corners and even lampposts.
Adding more stations emitting higher wavelengths and handling data closer to users reduces latency — the number of milliseconds it takes data to travel to and from a server — from 50 milliseconds with 4G to less than one. The human eye takes 300 milliseconds to blink. It is a development that effectively removes digital lag time. In this world autonomous vehicles can respond near-instantly to unexpected events. Robots can interact in perfect precision in a factory.
FRESH APPLICATIONS
The first devices that most of us will see benefit from 5G, however, are smartphones. Models such as the OnePlus 5G and Samsung Galaxy S10 5G are a little chunkier than 4G models, but they work.
In a hands-on test with the OnePlus 5G, the first 5G phone to launch on EE’s network on May 30, The Daily Telegraph experienced connection speeds of greater than 500 megabits per second, allowing the download of a 4k film in seconds. In the best environment you could expect only a fifth of that with 4G.
The likelihood is that, just as 4G got us all using more data, watching TV shows on our phones or tablets, 5G looks set to drive another dramatic expansion in data demand.
Swedish equipment maker Ericsson suggests users in Western Europe will increase data consumption by 375pc from 2018 to 2024.
Average data use, they think, will soar from an average 6.7GB per month to 32GB per month. If customers switch on with enthusiasm to data intensive technologies like augmented reality (videos projected over the real world using smart glasses or smartphones) that could be an underestimate.
“We are already seeing a lot of smartphones coming up,” says Patrik Cerwall, head of strategic marketing at Ericsson. “We think we are going to see a quick uptake of 5G.”
HOME AND ENTERTAINMENT
But how? Which 5G-enabled applications will actually take off?
Cloud gaming seems sure to be one, with tech giants having already made major bets 5G super-powering online games, meaning users can stream games across any device on the move.
The fundamental idea is simple; rather than having an expensive games console or high-end PC connected to your TV, companies can directly stream blockbuster games to any device with a screen.
Most agree these services have the potential to be hugely disruptive to the video game market, with other players such as Sony and Amazon reportedly preparing their own streaming solutions.
EE has said punters can expect a maximum real-world speed of 150mbps with its 5G network which, even facing the likelihood of a considerable drop-off around the country, would be enough to run Stadia (and most likely its competitors).
And it will not just be those in the gaming chair who benefit. The growth of 5G home hubs, so-called fixed wireless access, could see more people replace cable broadband with 5G directly from a nearby base station.
Companies like EE and Three have already confirmed they will launch such services, which are also being developed by the likes of virtual reality headset-maker HTC.
That could lead to many more gadgets in homes linking up to cloud services with enormous speed and responsiveness, accelerating the fast evolving “smart home” market.
THE BIG 'IF'
If it all sounds full of promise, tech launches always do. But where do we draw the line on the hype?
While tests and demonstrations suggest a meaningful uplift in speed and data connections for mobile phone users, there are still some questions.
According to Richard Windsor, of analyst firm RadioFreeMobile, impacts at best have been overstated, but at worst they have become little more than marketing guff.
“The cynic would reply that the product makers need another product,” he says. “But the reality is probably somewhere in the middle.”
According to Windsor, many of the applications of 5G for ordinary consumers could be achieved with better coverage under 4G standards.
But there are some differences. “It does have merits of its own,” says Windsor. “It will be more efficient than 4G, in VR experiences it will offer particularly low latency.”
And if 4G is anything to go by, the additional capacity offered by 5G for entertainment, downloads, gaming and connectivity will not be left untapped. According to Ericsson, 63 per cent of all North American mobile phone subscriptions will be 5G by 2024.
5G evangelists also point to the last generation, 4G technology. “It is no chance that companies like Facebook and Google came from North America,” says Qualcomm’s Salvatori, noting that 4G was fastest and most prevalent in the US, aiding the rise of giants like Airbnb and Uber.
To them it is clear that, even if only a fraction of hype comes true, lightning-fast internet connectivity, extended to billions more devices around the world, will unleash another internet revolution.
The Daily Telegraph
5G IS NOT AN EVOLUTIONARY STEP, IT IS A REVOLUTIONARY ONE... THE SHEER SPEED IS ONLY ONE BENEFIT OF THE TECHNOLOGY. 5G WILL ALSO ALLOW US TO TRANSFORM INDUSTRIES THANKS TO ITS ABILITY TO CONNECT MACHINES TO WIRELESS NETWORKS. — RAHIM TAFAZOLLI