Here comes 2022 there is still no 5G yet in Uganda. Whenever new wireless technology rolls out in the west, it’s just a matter of time for it to also be rolled out by wireless carriers in Uganda. The excitement around the advent of fast internet mobile networks like 4G LTE was all thanks to the pressure by Orange Uganda which led to the big giants like MTN and Airtel to follow suit years later. The current 4G ad 3G networks seem to be congested and yet all new smartphones have the 5G option. But with less competition in the telecom sector, we are not seeing the 5G hype yet. Is it because it’s a worthless venture for our wireless carriers?
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This is the year we envisioned telecom companies telling us why their 5G network is the very best and fastest and most reliable. They would be running commercials about how life-changing your 5G network is, also telling us why their 5G network is better than the other guy’s 5G network because can you even imagine building a 5G network the way they have?
It would be one thing to make all of these fantastical claims like they do if any of them reflected any real person’s experience. Truth be told, 5G networks are just not that good yet. They’ll get better, and that’s nice! But this should not stop pilot 5G network launches from the big networks. At least MTN recently successfully raised $150million (UGX535billion) in its IPO, which is a good indicator of the company’s ability to invest in a new fast data network.
There is no doubt, the 5G train has pulled into the station but will Ugandans have to do to get on board to be whisked away to the low-latency, Gigabit future when there are even no tracks built? And the train station.
The 5G promise has been a big deal, we heard things like; It will drive cars, do surgeries, fly drones, experience download speeds on your phone so astoundingly fast that your sunglasses will fly off your face just being so close. In countries that have it, the speed is surely impressive.
Lets us not forget the UCC factor. Uganda just like the EU will have to operate in the following frequency bands; low bands at 700 MHz, mid bands between 3.4-3.8 GHz, and high-band (mm-wave band) between: 24.25-27.5 GHz. Have telecoms already expressed interest in this spectrum from the regular? Has UCC gazetted these bands for 5G use in Uganda? When will the first 5G launch happen? These are all questions that still remain unanswered for now and we hope 2022 will change this, assuming the COVID situation doesn’t interfere.
We all just want our phone service to work when we need it. We want to tweet our stupid tweets, Netflix and Chill, share our dumb pet photos, follow our actual football teams, and do so with the as little inconvenience as possible. With a fast reliable mobile internet connection and whether 5G will be the saving grace, well– there is no hype about it now and so the wait continues.
