Behind the scenes: Interview with MTN Uganda managers exploring the possibilities of 5G Technology

MTN Uganda on Friday Morning took to their offices at MTN Nyonyi Gardens to launched the first pilot test for the new 5G technology. The event had a lot of demos showing the possibilities of 5G and applicability of the technology tailored across Virtual Reality and Robotics. 5G offers true mobility, robust connections and incredibly fast download/upload speeds with seamless connectivity. 

After the showcase, our writer at Techjaja Solomon Obwot had a revealing conversation with the MTN Managers, Mr Steve(Customer Service and Social Media Manager) and MTN Uganda CEO, Wim Vanhelleputte to address our concerns about the capabilities of 5G and broke down all the technical gobbledygook with the new technology.

Well, Do you think Uganda is ready for 5G technology given its slow adoption compared to 4G and 3G? (Mr Steven answers)

I believe the adoption rate will be much faster than the previous technology because most of the devices coming out now are tailored towards the 5G technology lifestyle. We already have smart TVs, Fridges and the development of cloud computing will be a huge incentive.

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One more thing when the 5G technology is rolled out for used by the public, it won’t be data(MBs) oriented but rather have unlimited data plans which offer users unrestricted access to the internet with no caps for a given period of time.

Well said but why should an average Ugandan be excited about 5G, what new doors(capabilities) will the technology open for us? (Mr Steven answers)

Okay, first off 5G can be used in smart farming. With the Internet of things(IoT), instead of physically looking at the cow you can go a step further and get to know whether the cow is feeding well, the milk production statistics and learn which months are the best months you have in terms of milk production. You can go as far as knowing if your cow is on heat and ready for conceiving, this will make you know the perfect time to bring in the bull to the farm.

5G will open futuristics doors which we can only fantasize about it for now but will be possible when the commercialization of the technology starts.

Which 5G speeds do you currently support? (Mr Steven answers)

When you make your way to the Live Demo table you can see the test results for the 5G speeds averaging 830 Mbps and reaching up to 940 Mbps.

Who is your 5G vendor? (Mr Steven answers)

We are currently working with ZTE Corporation Uganda only for now and using their 5G Indoor Router to power the trial demo event.

What particular challenges does MTN face in terms of backhaul provision? (Mr Steven answers)

Actually, 5G makes it because what we are doing is launching a Standalone Mode for 5G. Meaning end to end connectivity is easy with the 5G new radio(NR) hardware and you don’t have to go back and forth with the backbone network the way we used to do with 4G and the past technology.

The experience and installation will be much faster as opposed to mix and match in the past days. There are two types of 5G, NSA(Non-Standalone Mode) which depends on the existing 4G infrastructure and the SA(Standalone Mode) which requires 5G NR(New Radio) hardware, which runs on 5G core network and this is what we will be using when we start the commercialization.

What 5G spectrum is MTN planning to use? (CEO Wim answers)

We are only been allowed by the regulators to use the spectrum for one week because they have not properly refined the whole spectrum band. We don’t have the long term authorization to use the spectrum for now but hopefully in 2021, a year after this we will get reformed on the spectrum and then can start thinking of commercial roll-out.

Spectrum is a scarce resource and for now, the wavelength isn’t available for consumption by any telecom company. Just like the Radio bandwidth, work is currently being done by the regulators to clean the spectrum before allocating the frequency bandwidth to telecom companies.

What makes MTN think you are the internet leader now? Is it based on the shear number of customers? (CEO Wim answers)

We are market leaders based on what our customers are telling us, of course, it’s based on the clientele and the experience they’re finding with their internet connectivity.

The coverage is important, how big is your footprint. We are planning a massive 4G deployment in 2020 to make sure the all of Uganda is fully covered with 4G network. Mr Steven also noted that MTN has always forecasted where the market trend is going and try to deliver the demanded services which make them a worthy internet leader.

Differences between 4G and 5G Technology