5G is coming. Well, technically it has started rolling out in developed countries, kind of, may be, slowly! This 5th Generation cellular network is theoretically 10 times faster that 4G -LTE. That means instead of waiting 5 minutes to download a movie on Netflix on 4G, it will take just 30 seconds on 5G. In come countries, this could replace the high speed internet service providers they use at their homes.
The new standard means devices can communicate with each other with no lag. You know how when you write with a pen you see it as it happens, that’s zero latency. That’s pretty much what 5G can do–no waiting. That Opens up the possibility for things like wireless virtual reality (VR) experiences and more reliable driver-less cars. Thanks to the ability to analyze and process data at faster speeds.
Its an exciting time for faster and more connected devices. But as we have seen before, there are some obstacles 5G needs to overcome before we can really reap all of its amazing benefits. Here are 7 of them.
5Slow rollout
Despite all this, telcos in the USA and UK among other countries have rolled out the beginnings of their 5G networks in different strategic cities. So while 5G is being rolled out its very slow and will start in limited areas. In Uganda we don’t expect to see it anytime soon before 2021 given all the complexities we have explained. What we predict is that companies like MTN will roll it out on the small scale as it did for 4G just to get the “we were the first to launch 5G in Uganda” title– will all the prestige that comes with it.
In rural areas, telcos will have a much harder time covering such spared population with 5G, so it means millimeter wave frequencies are not an option there. They will to rely on the sub-600 MHz frequency band which means slower speeds than what 5G can actually achieve.
