The journey to a 5G future starts now

Pedestrians walk past a Safaricom shop in Nairobi. PHOTO | AFP

Every few years, humanity experiences great technological advancements. At the point of innovation, the potential impact of such advancements is often understated. However, as time unfolds, these innovations become part and parcel of our daily lives, delivering great transformational impact across society.

The telecommunications sector is one where network advancements coupled with increasing affordability and availability of devices, has transformed how we connect to people, knowledge, and opportunities.

Looking at the evolution of mobile technology, the first generation, 1G, cut the cord for voice calls and ushered in a new era of communication.

This was enhanced by the emergence of 2G, which also introduced Internet on the go. The introduction of 3G mainstreamed web-browsing, while 4G brought about higher Internet speeds, video streaming, and the advent of cloud computing.

5G is anchored on four broad areas, with the first being super-fast speeds. 5G is up to 10 times faster than the 4G network. Another advantage is 5G’s almost non-existent latency, which can enable a host of applications which require near-instant responses.

This paves the way for deployment of robotic applications that can react even faster than humans.

The 5G network also boasts of a greater network capacity and can connect to one million devices per square kilometre. This makes it ideal for large-scale industrial applications, especially where many complex machines are operating within a small area.

Lastly, 5G takes full advantage of the spectrum and makes the most of the low-band, mid-range, and high-band spectrum for maximum results. At the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, we all witnessed increased Internet demands.

Both parents and their children were home and expected to work, learn, and be entertained at the same time. This caused a great strain on the network, especially in areas with low bandwidth.

5G addresses this challenge as it offers homes a fibre-like experience on a wireless network, enabling people to seamlessly experience cloud gaming, heavy streaming on ultra-high definition, and connect many users simultaneously.

For enterprises, 5G will allow manufacturers to build smart factories that rely on industrial IoT and automation. In agriculture, 5G will enable large-scale farmers to collect real-time data, monitor, and automate their systems for increased yield and efficiency.

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