Technology

Lay the ground for 5G network rollout, Kenya advised

5g

5G is a fifth-generation of mobile internet connectivity. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Kenya has been urged to lay out network spectrum and infrastructure in readiness for the take off of 5G network in Africa.

Speaking during the Nokia Innovation Day at Southern Sun Mayfair, Westlands, Nairobi, last week , the company’s head of marketing in Africa and Middle East, Joachim Wuilmet said any revolutionary technology needs supportive infrastructure, favourable ecosystem and the right policies to succeed.

“The Kenyan government needs to consider setting up a spectrum to enable 5G deployment in the country and join South Africa on the short list of African countries that have started to adopt the technology,” he said.

5G is a fifth-generation of mobile internet connectivity that is expected to support faster high volume data download and upload on a wider geographical coverage, and on a frequency of between 3.5 GHz (gigahertz) to 90 GHz and beyond.

The speed is set at 1,000 megabytes per second and could increase in future standalone 5G networks. Its currently being built alongside existing 4G LTE (Long-Term Evolution) networks to ensure consistency in service delivery to customers.

The new network will be through a new radio spectrum and will allow for connection of billions of devices, live streaming of heavy video content, Internet of Things (IoT), augmented Artificial Intelligence (AI), human-machine interaction, online gaming, customer analytics, cloud computing, robotics and social trust economics, all in real time.

It is on the same network that agriculture-as-a-service (AaaS) will be actualised, an effort that will see food security levels being boosted.

5G will also make mobile videos instantaneous with video calls getting far clearer and less jerky across long distances. Due to its lower latency and higher capacity, healthcare systems will be able to offer remote monitoring for more patients.

Healthcare providers can then be confident that they will receive the data they need in real time and can provide the care their patients need and expect.

In March this year, an hospital in China successfully performed the first remote operation using 5G technology, where a doctor implanted a deep brain stimulation (DBS) device in a patient’s brain to help control Parkinson’s disease symptoms.