Remember the time when all of us in our family used to go to a telephone booth to call our distant relatives. How happy we were to talk to them? How delighted we used to become when we used to hear the voices of our siblings, maternal grandfather, maternal grandmother, uncle aunt etc. Then came the age of cellphone, now people were able to talk to their family members from the comfort of their homes. Then came the smartphone, which revolutionalized the telecom sector. Everything was available at the touch of our finger.Now,people did not need to go to marketplace to buy commodities, they can buy it online from the comfort of their homes. How was all this made possible?
The first mobile phone service in India was launched in the year 1985 on a non-commercial basis.The commercial operation of mobile phone services began in the year 1995. Early mobile networks was based on 2G, 3G operations started in the 2010. 4G network arrived in the year 2016. With the improvement in technology,the services provided improved from just voice services to internet based services like e-commerce, video call, online streaming of movies. Per person internet usage in the year 2004 was 0.75 GB in India which increased to 4 GB per person in the year 2017. Recently, a lot news have been doing rounds that by the mid of the year 2021, 5G services will be launched in India with Reliance Jio taking the lead. With the advent of 5G, a whole new spectrum of technology will emerge such as Internet of Things, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence. What makes 5G a step ahead of its elder brother 4G?
When we compare 4G and 5G technology. The latency of 5G is less than 1ms compared to latency of 4G which is 10ms. Coming to the peak data rates, 5G peak data rate is 20Gb/s compared to 1Gb/s peak data rate of 4G. The available spectrum of 5G is 30 Ghz compared to 3 Ghz of 4G. Higher spectrum offers greater Internet speed.The last being,the connection density, 5G can connect 1 million devices in a square kilometer compared to 4G which can connect a 100 thousand devices in a square kilometer. With the Government of India giving an impetus to Digital India where all the government services would be available online to bring in more tranparency and accountability to the system.
India has a population of 130 crores with a huge income inequality. A major portion of India's population still use 2G mobile services, and even the 4G technology has not reached to all its population compared to Singapore and South Korea where there is 100% 4G penetration,this makes their case of advancing to 5G technology much rational. Therefore,it has become difficult for the Government of India to implement Digital India intiative. That is why, Reliance Jio chairman Mukesh Ambani has given a call for " 2G mukt bharat". An initiative that help bridge the digital divide and bring the benefits of Internet to each and every citizen of India. 5G is the future of the telecom.
