We are years a way for having an official 5G network in Uganda but, this month will go down in history for the UK and USA for their 5G launches. Mobile networks like EE and Verizon have turned on UK and USA’s first 5G networks respectively. Just as 4G, expect 5G in Uganda to roll-out first in limited parts of the country like Kampala when it it launches.
3G allowed for sharing of photos and some video streaming and calls, and 4G-LTE made this even faster and video streaming far more reliable. The new technology promises to bring significantly faster speeds and much lower latency. But, we believe early 5G adopters worldwide will have some stumbling blocks, let’s point out 6 reasons why.
1. Limited 5G coverage
Where 5G has been rolled out in the UK, average speeds were still a 10x improvement over the existing 4G. At around 200 Mbps on 5G, compared to around 25 Mbps on 4G in the same spot. The best speeds that have been reported were 510 Mbps. Even when in the train moving, users are consistently hitting speeds in excess of 200 Mbps, and at one point when it was moving slowly, speeds jumped all the way up to 980 Mbps. Only expect these initial roll-out in major cities.
2.Low Upload speeds
The worst part about the current 5G implementation is that upload speeds which are not bad per say– are the same as 4G right now. Users are reporting speeds in the range of 30 Mbps, which is far from the average of 200 Mbps down. That’s the most disappointing aspect of 5G network so far, alongside the limited coverage. Telecom companies are promising to add several cell sites per month and that download speeds should be between 100 to 150 Mbps quicker on the new technology than 4G. There’s no promise on upload speeds, though.
3.Unrealized benefits on mobile phones
The promise of 5G isn’t just about the bandwidth improvements alone; it’s also about the latency improvements for activities like streaming games from the cloud. This new technology promises speeds over 1Gbps but it’s hard to measure the benefits of 5G right now. Yes, everything naturally loads faster, and it will feel like a really good Wi-Fi connection.
The most practical benefit we can think of is being able to stream 1440p HDR content through YouTube and or 4K on Netflix and easily scrubbing to any section of the video instantly. It’s these little things that count in the short term, but for years now developers have built apps and services to cache and load balance. That means not all services even have the capacity to meet your connection and transfer data as quickly as your device can handle. So currently 5G is just a marketing gimmick– for mobile phone use but rest assured it will open up the ability for new applications, cloud streaming of 4K and above content, cloud game streaming, augmented reality games.
4. 5G Transmission challenges
Initial 5G deployments in ITU Region 2 (where we belong) will be launching initially on sub-6GHz frequencies in most countries, which are good for more coverage, but they don’t have all the benefits that the new technology promises. 2G, 3G and 4G technologies utilize 800 MHz to 2,600 MHz frequencies. But initial 5G is using 6,000 MHz frequencies which are higher frequencies that allow for more bandwidth to be passed to devices, but they operate over a smaller distance, and the radio waves can’t easily penetrate walls and objects that are in between you and the 5G antenna. This is an issue more for telecom companies as they will have to deploy cell site at least 200- 300 meters close to each other in order to have continuous 5G coverage.
The challenges of shorter transmission ranges can be tricky when there’s no direct line of sight and interference from walls, buildings, or even rain. So expect to fall back to LTE speeds since windows and walls are enough to defeat millimeter wave.
5G needs spectrum will be used within three key frequency ranges to deliver widespread coverage and support all use cases. The three ranges are: Sub-1 GHz, 1-6 GHz (current implementation) and above 6 GHz.
Sub-1GHz spectrum is needed to extend high speed 5G mobile broadband coverage across urban, suburban and rural areas and to help support Internet of Things (IoT) services: 5G services will struggle to reach beyond urban centres and deep inside buildings without this spectrum. A portion of UHF television spectrum should be made available for this purpose through the second digital dividend. The European Commission supports the use of the 700 MHz band for 5G services this should be the same case for Uganda.
5.Data finished within a minute
If you think your telecom company is “chewing” your data really fast, wait until 5G comes along. This another 5G challenge will be operators and their data pricing. Prices for in the UK 5G plans start at £54 (UGX 270k) a month for 10GB of data, rising to £74 (UGX 360k) a month for 120GB. In comparison, Africell currently charges UGX 100,000 for 40GB a month, this means 120 GB would cost about UGX 300k. With faster speeds, should come hand in hand with lower data prices. It will be far easier to be tempted to use this fast connection with your laptop and start downloading far more data like you would on a home fiber or free WiFi connection. You could realistically use 120GB of data within minutes, making 5G a really expensive gamble for early adopters.
6.Limited and expensive smartphones
Early adopters of 5G will also have a very limited option of handsets, but I trust when it launches later this side of the Sahara –we shall have enough smartphones supporting the new technology. Currently we have phones like the OnePlus 7 Pro 5G, Samsung’s S10 5G, Oppo’s Reno 5G, LG V50 ThinQ and Huawei’s Mate 20 X 5G that have been announced. We’re still waiting to see a lot more 5G-enabled devices that will unfortunately not be affordable. Which means don’t expect a 5G enabled Infinix or Tenco phone soon.
Whatever the stumbling blocks this new connectivity network has right now, we hope should be resolved by the time its commercially rolled out in more countries in the coming years.
