The Mobile Wireless Communication Technology Journey - 0G, 1G, 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G

Telecommunication and networking has been and will be one of the core technologies in helping the evolution of mankind and technology. If it was not for these channels of communication and data transmission, we would probably still be in an era where technology is not as advanced as it is today.

It would be heedless to say that we have not come a long way as far as mobile technology is concerned. The first cell/mobile phones could barely keep a call connected let alone send a text message and now we are streaming content across the wireless spectrum while cruising the web and talking to friends. A long way indeed. Where does it go from here?

What is Telecommunication?

It is communication at a distance through electrical signals or electromagnetic waves. It includes mechanical and electrical communication.

10th March, 1876 – The day when Alexander Graham Bell made the first successful transmission of speech in the form of electromagnetic waves using a custom built transmitter and receiver. This is often regarded as the first practical phone call made in the history of the telephone.

Right from that point of time, the concept of communication using a telephone has evolved into first long distance telephone calls (at a distance of 6 miles) in 1876, Motorola’s first handheld mobile phone or cell phone in 1973, 1G or first generation analogue cellular network in 1979 in Japan, 2G or the second generation digital cellular network based on GSM technology in 1991, 3G or the third generation mobile communication based on UMTS and CDMA technologies in 2001 and the currently used 4G or fourth generation mobile communication technology based on LTE standard in 2009.

A competitive economy allows consumers to demand bigger, faster, stronger everyday services and companies are more than happy to accommodate. It has brought in countless advances in technology over the years. For example, 1G technology brought us the mobile devices. The 2G network brought us the ability to text and receive/send data across mobile devices. Then 3G brought us to the mobile web and 4G made it faster. 4G LTE is great but we can do better and it turns out we will. Now with more people connected than ever, telecom carriers are making strides towards a 5G network that will redefine high-speed wireless communications.

We all talk about the speed of 4G network while downloading or browsing something on the internet or while streaming videos whether it gets buffered or not. All this depends upon the network type you use. I am sure everyone has heard about 1G, 2G, 3G, 4G and the upcoming 5G. But how do they differ from each other?

Wireless communication technology inside cell/mobile phones and other mobile devices has evolved over several decades. Starting with the then revolutionary 1G (referred to as the earliest form of voice only network) all the way to the 4G of today and the 5G of the near future. But what has really changed? and what are the core driving principles of these wireless communication technology?

What is Wireless?

The word Wireless is dictionary defined as "having no wires". In networking terminology, wireless is the term used to describe any computer network where there is no physical wired connection between sender and receiver, but rather the network is connected by radio waves and or microwaves to maintain communication.

Do you know that the first ever smart phone was released in November 1999 by NTT DoCoMo in Japan?

Afterwards its release and use, it evolved and advanced in many aspects. Today we are using multi-featured smartphones that can perform multiple tasks simultaneously. If you use them for internet browsing and phone calls, then definitely you might use mobile networks. So let's explore mobile network technology.

Mobile phones generally use a wireless telecommunication system which was first released in the1980's. Since then there has been a development of Telecom Generations(G) to the present day 4G and upcoming 5G in development progress.

First of all, the G in “1G” to “5G” stands for generation and the number is just a representation of the evolution of technology. Currently, as you know, we are using the 4th generation of wireless communication technology.

Image credit: design1st

Zero Generation Telecommunication (0G)

0G - Mobile radio telephone (also known as “0G”). 0G refers to pre-cellphone mobile telephony. Being the predecessors of the first generation of cellular telephones, these systems are called 0G (zero generation) systems. Mobile telephones systems were always usually vehicle mounted in the vehicle boot/trunk. The transceiver (transmitter receiver) was mounted in the vehicle boot and usually placed to the head section, (dial, display, and handset) usually fixed close to the driver’s seat

Technologies used in 0G systems included PTT (Push to Talk), MTS (Mobile Telephone System), IMTS (Improved Mobile Telephone Service), and AMTS (Advanced Mobile Telephone System). Since they were the predecessors of the first generation of cellular telephones, these systems are sometimes retroactively referred to as pre-cellular (or sometimes zero generation) systems.

Zero Generation (0G) refers to life before the invention of the cell phone mobile telephony technology, this includes radio telephones that some had in cars before the invention of modern cell phones.

Example of 0G:

Back in October of 1946, Motorola communications equipment carried the first calls on Illinois Bell Telephone Company’s new car radiotelephone service in Chicago, which unfortunately reached capacity rather quickly due to the limited number of radio frequencies available. Nearly 40 years later in the 1980's, the car phone was more popular than the regular mobile phone. 

Technology moves forward, and in the ‘1st generation’, mobile phone systems emerged. These differed from the previous generation by using digital instead of analog transmission. Analogue transmission is a transmission method of conveying voice, data, images, signals or video information using a continuous signal which varies in amplitude, phase, or some other property in proportion to that of a variable.

1G Technology

There never was something called as 1G at first. The Mobile Wireless communication was possible only by the introduction of 1G Technology. It basically was a network with only voice call capabilities and only got the name 1G after 2G was put to use. 1G by technology standards, is ancient. It's the first generation of mobile network technology. 

This was the first wireless telecommunication generation used by the majority of the people for a long time. These telephones were the first and the foremost mobile phones to be utilised. In 1979, 1G was launched commercially in Tokyo city of Japan by NTT DoCoMo firm. And within a span of 5 years, it spread across Japan widely. Two years after 1G launched, in 1981 many nordic countries like Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Switzerland, Netherlands, Eastern Europe and Russia got new standards known as NMT(Nordic Mobile Telephone) which were based on 1G technology. Similarly AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System) started to be used in North America and Australia, TACS (Total Access Communications Systems) in UK and many others.

1G is an analog technology and the phones generally had poor battery life and voice quality was large without much security, and would most often experience dropped calls. The maximum speed of 1G was 2.4 Kbps.

Even after being the first wireless telecommunication technology, 1G technology wasn't fully digital. Data transmissions were done in analog form at 150 Mhz and above frequency of radio waves. This was the biggest drawback of 1G technology. This led to insecurity of phone calls. Also due to less frequency bandwidth for 1G, data transmission speed was too low and was only feasible for phone calls as they take low data to carry the intended signals.

There was only one medium for communication, phone call to convey your message to the other person. Data transmission speed at the time was around 3-4 kbps. Due to low-frequency bandwidth and analog form of data transmission, it used to take lots of energy to transmit data to far distances and also signals would get disturbed while reaching their particular recipient.

Mobile phones were big and thick in size due to bigger antennas that needed to catch requisite data traversing in space. Also mobile phones had lower battery life because data transmission used to take lots of energy. The other big drawback was roaming that was not supported in 1G technology meaning you could not use other countries' networks. After 10 long years of 1G technology, 2G was launched.

Drawbacks of 1G:

• Poor voice quality
• Poor battery life
• Large phone size
• No security
• Limited capacity
• Poor reliability

2G Technology

2G or second generation of wireless technology was first launched commercially in Finland in 1991. It utilised digital signals for voice transmission. In this release a lot of improvements were done on 1G technology and it got an entirely different platform and hence was referred to as next generation. Fundamental concentrate of this technology was on digital signals and gave services to convey content and provide picture messages at low speed (in kbps). It utilised the bandwidth of 30 to 200 KHz. With the introduction of 2G in the early 1990s, we moved away from analog and jumped into the digital world. This gave us smaller devices, a more secure connection, better call quality, and a higher capacity for connectivity.

When smart phones were first introduced, there was no texting as well as undoubtedly horrible connections. Then came 2G or 2nd Generation networks as well as by having them came the capability to transfer and get information, although the velocities were actually sluggish – 9.6 kb|s – slower than the old, screechy, modems that we used to utilize in the early days of the Internet. Slowly technological innovation strengthened and information rates were raised, by having the latter types of 2G getting to speeds of about 56kb|s and we thought that was fast!

During the 2G era, that lasted for quite a while from the early 1990’s to 2003, there were quite a few advancements made within the spectrum itself such as GSM, GPRS and EDGE.

• GSM: Short for Global Systems for Mobile Communication enabled data transfer on top of voice communication at speeds that are seen as a joke today (30-35 kbps). It played a critical role in the evolution of mobile technology at right about that time it was being used, mobile phone connectivity and popularity exploded.
• GPRS: General Packet Radio Service operated on the similar 2G technology as GSM with a few refinements which gave it higher data speeds (110 kbps)
• EDGE: Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution introduced in 2003 was somewhat known to be 2.9G or 3G due to its significant advancements over GPRS and GSM. It offered high speeds of 135 kbps and continues to be used on many mobile networks even today as is satisfies the basic needs of both carriers and users in various parts of the world.

2G: SMS and MMS

• Mobile/cellphones received their first major upgrade when they went from 1G to 2G. This leap took place in 1991 on GSM networks first, in Finland, and effectively took cell phones from analogue to digital.
• The 2G telephone technology introduced call and text encryption, plus data services like SMS, picture messages, and MMS.
• The max speed of 2G with General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is 50 Kbps or 1 Mbps with Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE).

In 2G, three big features were added and improved compared to 1G and they are:

1) Data transmission for phone conversation got fully digitized and encrypted.

2) Internet data service and SMS like plain text, picture messages, MMS service were initiated in addition to phone calls.

3) 2G enabled devices became more efficient to receive and send signals with higher penetration levels for wide radio waves spectrum.

Better voice quality, more than one medium to communicate brought a new change in wireless communication technology. With data encryption method, transmission became more efficient and fast with better quality and data security. Only a particular recipient could receive the intended message via encryption technique.

The mobile phone size also reduced to some extent. Battery life improved due to digitization of data transmission which usually took less energy to transmit. This happened due to two different multiplexing standards on which 2G technology relied on : GSM (Global Systems for Mobile) based on TDMA (Time Division Multiplexing Access) and CDMA (Code Division Multiplexing Access). This added the circuit switching domain which allowed a single connection in real-time. If the network hopped from one base station to other base stations, then the connection tended to disconnect and everything had to be re-initiated. Data transmission speed was also increased to 14.4 kbps compared to 3-4 kbps in 1G.

Since analogue components were no longer needed with the jump to 2G, phones could be made smaller and more compact, jump starting the trend of 'miniaturisation'. This is, until we realised we could watch videos on our phones, then our phone started going bigger again.

Drawbacks of 2G:

• Required strong digital signals to help mobile phones work. If there was no network coverage, digital signals weakened.
• Systems were unable to handle complex data like videos.

Image: Mobile phones evolution miniaturisation - courtesy of Daily Infographic

2.5G Technology

Thereafter, 2.5G evolved as an intermediate wireless generation between 2G and 3G technology. Packet-switching domain was added. This enabled the sending of any request to network bases in the form of small packets rather than being continuous in real-time connection. It helped to save battery even more as the transmissions were in small packet form. If network went off, and came back on, the request would continue from where it stopped when the network went off and there wouldn't be need to re-initiate everything.

2.5G or GPRS symbol

2.5G represents handsets with data capabilities over GPRS. Packet-switching domain increased data transmission speed to 50-60 kbps than in normal 2G technology. This initiated internet usability and also introduced GPRS(General Packet Radio Service). The G symbol we see on our mobile phones while using internet is a notation of GPRS.

2.75G Technology

2.75G or EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution)

Years later, 2.75G was introduced by enhancing GRPS systems to EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution) systems with new 8PSK encoding technique. This enhanced the data rates by 3-4 times. In 8PSK encoding, a single carrier symbol used to carry 3 bits instead of 1 bit used in GPRS. This further improved voice conversation quality. Data transmission theoretically increased to 1Mbps (practical estimated speed is 500 kbps) but usually current data transmission rate in 2.75G is also under 500kbps. EDGE or 2.75G is usually denoted by the E symbol near the mobile network. Although EDGE or 2.75G fulfilled 3G requirements but still it was not considered to fall under 3G standards.

EDGE technology is an extended version of GSM. It allows the clear and fast transmission of data and information. It is also termed as IMT-SC or single carrier. EDGE technology was invented and introduced by Cingular, which is now known as AT& T. EDGE is radio technology and is a part of third generation technologies. EDGE technology is preferred over GSM due to its flexibility to carry packet switch data and circuit switch data. 

EDGE transfers data in fewer seconds if we compare it with GPRS Technology. For example a typical text file of 40KB is transferred in only 2 seconds as compared to the transfer from GPRS technology, which is 6 seconds. The biggest advantage of using EDGE technology is one does not need to install any additional hardware and software in order to make use of EDGE Technology. 

The Car Phone, The Coolest Accessory for Your Car at the time… in 1995

For the longest time having a mobile phone built into your vehicle was a sign of luxury and perceived wealth. The rise of mobile phones has largely made this technology irrelevant now but one can’t help but still have this school of thought. This service originated in 1946 with the Bell System. The original equipment used for such a task weighed in at about 80 pounds (36 kg) well into the 1980's.

Since a traditional car phone uses a high-power transmitter and external antenna, it is ideal for rural or undeveloped areas where mobile handsets may not work well or at all.

3G Technology

In 1998, 3G was pre-commercially launched in Japan by NTT DoCoMo for testing purposes and branded as FOMA. Until 2001, 3G technology was not released for commercial use due to unreliability. Same year later in October 2001, it was widely launched commercially on W-CDMA standard which is based on GSM. During the same time, in European countries, the UMTS(Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) network spread 3G technology under 3GPP standards.

3G or the 3rd Generation of mobile technology innovations took us by storm with speeds of about 4 times quicker than the old 2G standards. With initial speeds of around 200kb|s and steady transformation of the technological innovations saw maximum speeds of up to 7.2 Mb|s and we were awed by the things that could be accomplished. The latter speeds were just numbers because the highest rates were not achievable unless you were in the right spot at the right time. Still quite an improvement.

3G: More Data! Video Calling and Mobile Internet

• 3G networks were introduced in 1998 and stand for the next generation in this series; the third-generation.
• 3G ushered in faster data-transmission speeds so you could use your cell phone in more data-demanding ways like for video calling and mobile internet. Like 2G, 3G evolved into 3.5G and 3.75G as more features were introduced in order to bring about 4G todate.
• The max speed of 3G was estimated to be around 2 Mbps for non-moving devices and 384 Kbps in moving vehicles. The theoretical max speed for HSPA+ is 21.6 Mbps.

This was a big revolution in terms of technological advancement for network and data transmission. 3G had and has speed capabilities of up to 2 mbps. It enabled smartphones to provide faster communication, send/receive large emails and texts, provide fast web browsing, video streaming and more security amongst others. It was widely based on CDMA2000 (Code-division multiple access) and EDGE technologies. Now you might wonder why EDGE? Well, because EDGE was so advanced it was able to provide enough capabilities to be considered as 3G. CDMA2000, on the other hand, operated on similar key concepts but did it better. It enabled multiple channels to communicate at one same thus improvising on the over speed and connectivity.

The main distinction between 2G and 3G that allowed media streaming to take place is that 3G utilises packet switching data transmission rather than circuit switching. Data is broken down into small pieces or packets and then sent to the destination. Using this method of transmission greatly increases the speed, allowing one to send data through multiple channels in parallel rather than one channel in series. This technology also allows users to pay for data used rather than time spent online.

What did '3G' symbolise?

It changed the course of wireless communication systems where in addition to voice telephony and SMS services, data service increased in use. 3G technology provides better voice quality and better connectivity due to broad frequency bandwidth. W-CDMA standard is widely used in 3G technology as it provides better data transmission speed than UMTS.

3G technology enhanced data transmission and offered better data rate at least of 384kbps for moving stance and 2Mbps for stationary stance. This provided better network services and also attracted customers to use internet. Along with voice telephony, users could do video call, conferencing call on the move, mobile TV, etc. This helped several businesses to grow remotely and also improved far connectivity in lesser time. Also, better encrypting/encoding technique used to transmit data added a better data security. 3G devices became smaller in size and also battery life improved with better frequency and encoding technique. Smartphones then boomed in the mobile phone market. Customers started to buy phones having more and better quality features.

3G networks could handle the first smartphones offering increased bandwidth and transfer rates to accommodate internet applications and audio and video files. 3G bandwidth is 2mbps, meaning that the download time for downloading an app would be around one minute.

3.5G Technology

3.5G or HSPA symbol

Soon 3G technology was improved and released as 3.5G or say HSPA (High Speed Packet Access). 3.5G was an enhanced version of WCDMA technology based on GSM standards. Theoretical data rate was improved to 14Mbps at the uplink/upload side and 5.76Mbps at the downlink/download side. This was 4-5 times more than W-CDMA technology. Practically, in 3.5G we get around 500 kbps download and 200 upload speed. Video streaming improved in 3.5G and the network latency reduced to a greater extent. The 'H' symbol on the mobile network represents HSPA or 3.5G network.

3.75G Technology

3.75G or HSPA+ symbol

After another improvement and advancement in the HSPA network, an evolved version in release 7 of 3GPP was launched as HSPA+ or Evolved high Speed Packet Access. This is also termed as 3.75G. With advanced encryption/encoding technique and using multiple antennas to transmit and receive data requests. data transmission rates increased up to a peak speed of 42Mbps uplink and 22Mbps downlink theoretically. It was the upgraded version of W-CDMA technology. This introduced stable Mobile broadband services. Any mobile device could be used as a wi-fi hotspot and via dongle also, internet could be accessed in computer. H+ symbol in mobile network terms represents HSPA+ or 3.75G network.

The difference between 3G and 4G is in Data transfer and Signal quality:

4G Technology

In 2008, 4G technology started to roll out but had issues to commercially announce the then communication system as 4G due to minimum standard requirements which were not fulfilled. But with advancement in wireless telecommunication technology, minimum requirements for 4G technology were accomplished due to which authorities agreed to call the existing new technology 4G technology. It fulfilled the gap that was missing for more secured data transmission. All IP packet switch network domains are used for 4G compliance which means all transmission is based on Internet Protocol. Here, data is given the highest priority.

The speed of the 3G network quickly became insufficient as technology and smartphones evolved. The next generation came around 2010 in two categories 4G and 4G LTE (referred to as just LTE). This generation drastically improved data transfer speeds. 4G compability was about improved speeds as the solution to slow data problems. 4G LTE had even faster upload speeds and was developed based on IP standards. With speeds faster than 3G, 4G bandwidth is 200 mbps, which translates to the download time for a full-length movie being about 10 minutes.

4G: The Current Standard

• The fourth generation of networks is called 4G. It supports mobile web access like 3G but also gaming services, HD mobile TV, Video Conferencing, 3D TV and other services that demand higher speeds.
• With the implementation of 4G, some 3G features are removed, such as the spectrum radio technology; others are added to higher bit rates due to smart antennas. The maximum speed of a 4G network when the device is moving is 100 Mbps or 1 Gbps for low mobility communication like when stationary or walking.

The 4G standard sets several requirements for mobile networks including mandating the use of Internet Protocol (IP) for data traffic and minimum data rates of 100 Mbps which was a huge jump from the 2 mbps for 3G. It is often referred to as MAGIC

A term MAGIC is used to explain the 4G technology.

M = Mobile multimedia

A = Any time any where;

G = Global mobility support

I = Integrated wireless solution

C = Customised personal service 

Network latency is vanished and all transmission is done at high-speed in packet form. This brought even better quality for voice calls as the data transmitted in the pure packet form due to Orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) multiplexing technique. Two technologies were proposed under 4G denomination: LTE and WiMax series.

4G LTE(Long Term Evolution) was released commercially in December 2009 in the UK. It provided peak download speed of 100 Mbps and peak upload speed of 50Mbps. This enabled more data transmission at the same time over the internet protocol.

WiMax was first released commercially in June 2006 in South Korea which offered peak data speed for download at 128 Mbps and peak data speed for upload at 56 Mbps.

4G offers HD quality video calls, teleconferencing with better quality and online gaming streams, secured and clear voice telephony, etc.

It is not much to do with the technology it uses but rather the requirements set forth by International Telecommunication Union’s Radio communication Sector (ITU-R). These standards are known as International Mobile Telecommunications-Advanced (IMT-Advanced). The list of standards is quite complicated and thus were a barrier in fast adoption of the 4G spectrum.

Soon after 4G, 4G LTE was introduced. LTE stands for Long Term Evolution and it isn’t as much a technology as it is the path followed to achieve 4G speeds. It was a complete redesign and simplification of 3G network architecture, resulting in a significant reduction in transfer latency and thus, increasing efficiency and speeds on the network.

4G VOLTE stands for Voice Over Long Term Evolution is an extension in LTE network to fully digitize voice telephony in packet form from circuit switched technology. In this protocol, voice quality is enhanced much more along with better data security and also at higher data speed. VOLTE can carry 3 times more data than 3G UMTS network and 6 times more data than 2G GSM network.

Every new generation of wireless networks delivers quicker speeds and additional functionality through our smartphones.

• 1G brought the very 1st cell phones.
• 2G let us text for the phones.
• 3G brought us on-line and
• 4G LTE delivered the speeds that we have a tendency to fancy these days however as additional users come back on-line.

5G Technology - Coming Soon

With 4G approaching its limits, you will probably hear the term 5G being thrown around a lot, but what is 5G? Yes, obviously 5G is the successor to 4G mobile network technology but how exactly is it different, how do we get there, how will it affect our lives and more importantly, when will we be able to use it?

The main differentiator between 4G and 5G is capacity and latency. These features are not just what separate the two technologies, they are the reason we need 5G.

How these technologies differ:

• 5G is a not-yet-implemented wireless technology that is intended to improve on 4G.
• It promises significantly faster data rates, higher connection density, much lower latency, among other improvements.

5G technology is expected to be launched after early 2020 but still there are a lot of areas in existing wireless systems that still need improvements. 

5G is not just a step up from 4G, it is on another level. It provides low end-to-end latency, the ability to connect to thousands of devices at once and blazing fast speeds that can move computing and processing power away from devices and into the network.

This means future wireless IoT devices can be much smaller, sip power and scale rapidly.

5G will also become the underlying wireless infrastructure to support autonomous vehicles, Virtual Reality (VR)/Augmented Reality(AR) headsets and Smart cities. So, it’s not just faster download speeds: 5G will be a game changer for many industries including hardware products and IoT solutions.

Latency. Future networks in the connected world will have to be fast and that's what 5G is going to deliver.

There are no benchmark standards that have been set for deploying the 5G protocol. But many things can be expected during its roll out. Artificial Intelligence(AI) may be used and enhanced to provide much faster connectivity with almost zero latency. IoT(Internet of Things) may become more viable through one touch. 1Gbps will be expected practical data rates. Multiple users might transfer huge data within seconds. All this is just a projection for 5G technology.

The path to 5G will be through the evolution of 4G. Most telecom carriers will not jump directly from early 4G systems to 5G, but instead go from 4G to 4.5G to 4.5G Pro and then finally to 5G.

Here is the GSMA take on the speeds of the past, current and future generations of the G.

WHAT THE DEVELOPMENT OF 5G MEANS FOR BUSINESSES

5G will be a constantly developing network of networks encompassing a far broader array of devices than merely mobile phones. You may have heard of this as the Internet of Things. Many predict that there will never be a clearly defined step up to a subsequent generation. 

Eliminating that annoying Netflix buffer will be great but 5G’s ability to connect to more IoT (internet of things) devices will really set it apart. Data and commands will travel much faster without interruption making technology such as self-driving cars a real possibility. Reliable connection and ultra low-latency is good news for any business. While 4G is technically available for businesses today it does not offer the consistency that 5G is promising.

When analysing broadband options for your business, 5G will be a conceivable solution in the future. It has the potential to eclipse wireline broadband solutions for businesses. Also, 5G will become a cheaper service than traditional Ethernet for businesses with multiple branches.

Telecom Carriers will look to benefit as well. They are hoping to replace costs of management, maintenance and upgrades associated with physical connections. Any IT person who has had to wait on these types of services will appreciate the win-win with this.

In this era, the internet means a lot for all of us. We cannot imagine doing any official work without internet today.

Some ways 5G could benefit businesses:

Easier commutes: Smart and automated transport, finally enabled by a stable and fast mobile network, will ensure that there’s significantly less time wasted commuting. Even while using this more efficient transportation, speedy mobile connectivity on public transport will enable employees to work more effectively during commutes and other out-of-office travel.

AR/VR: The augmented and virtual reality applications that 5G is expected to support could have significant applications in various industries – particularly retail, property, entertainment, gaming, manufacturing and tourism. ABI Research estimates that the AR and VR market will reach $292 billion (£221 billion) by 2025.

Tailored networks: With network slicing, it will be possible for a business to practically own their own private 5G network, precisely set up according to its specific business needs. 5G will certainly have much greater capacity across a much wider range of spectrums, but it will also use that space more intelligently, assigning only the resources necessary for each application.

Mobile comes of age: Qualcomm’s study of the 5G Economy, concludes that 5G will “catapult” mobile to become a ‘general purpose technology’ on a par with electricity and the car. Qualcomm says, this will have a transformational impact on the economy and many industries.

Productivity: A key benefit of 5G could be helping businesses work more quickly and more efficiently – in turn, saving costs and increasing revenue.

Remote working: Although remote working has been on the business agenda for well over a decade, it hasn’t quite taken off as much as people thought it would. While part of this is a cultural issue in businesses, it’s also been a technology issue. Conference calls are still quite stilted and often awkward, for example. AR, VR and seamless connectivity could make remote meetings feel as if you’re in the same room finally.

With 5G, businesses will have constant unbroken access to a fast, reliable internet connection. To all intents and purposes, it will be like having an extremely good Wi-Fi hotspot covering the entire developed world.

Rural innovation: Many countries, including the UK, are looking to 5G to better connect rural communities, allowing more people to start businesses from home and opening up opportunities.

That’s key, as data from Ofcom finds that geographically, only 63% of the UK has mobile data coverage from all of the four main providers.

5G RuralFirst, a UK Government Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) project between the private sector, government and academia, is exploring rural business opportunities enabled by 5G, such as agriculture, broadcasting, and utilities.

Lower costs: The shift from a hardware to a software-based network environment will bring about lower overheads for mobile operators. Those savings will in turn be able to be passed on to business customers.

Flexible office spaces: These ‘smart buildings’ will be able to employ small radio sensors to monitor occupancy, lighting and temperature. CCTV footage of those office spaces will be able to be streamed live to mobile devices. All in all, this will help provide more flexible, efficient, secure and ultimately cheaper work spaces for small businesses to operate in. (Source credit: 5G.co)

Here are the potential 5G use cases and their associated network requirements:

In Conclusion

The Antenna cell/mobile phone has become the memory of the past. Mobile Technology is not only used as a communication tool but also serves many other useful purposes.

Mobile Wireless technology has experienced different generations of Technology mainly from 0G to 4G. Implementation work of 5G is on-going.

With the developments in technology, the use of mobile phones is not restricted to just making phone calls. Several services like music, videos, camera, internet and internet based applications are integrated with the mobile phone. With the increase in the usage of the mobile phones and the requirement of higher bandwidths of internet, the next generation mobile communication technology, which is termed as 5G or fifth generation telecommunication technology, is needed more than ever.

We cannot imagine the world without mobile phones and/or other hand held gadgets like tablets, smartphones, phablets etc. In fact, according to a survey, there are more mobile phones than the population of the world (the population of the world is 7.3 billion and the number of mobile phones is 7.5 billion).

The fastest mobile network in the current market is 4G LTE standard or simply called 4G network and can offer speeds up to 150 Megabits per second (150 Mbps when using an LTE Advanced network) for mobile users.

There has been a lot of advancements in the field of wireless network communication over the years in terms of overall development and change in core functionality, which has been crucial to put us in an era that is driven by technology all around us and with 5G a couple years away, technologies such as IoT, Cloud computing and AI will completely redefine our world by 2025 and beyond. Now looking forward to IoT and IoE (Internet of Everything), we look forward to 5G. We have moved from connecting places to people and now things. It will be interesting to see if technology catches up with the demand or if it will be the other way around.

With the increasing mobile connections and the continuous rise in the requirement of more mobile broadband, the future of mobile communication will be very different to what we are using today.

5G is the next generation of mobile communication which offers huge bandwidths for data transmission, extremely robust system and ultra-low connectivity latency. 5G provides a network that is smart enough to understand the situation around the connected device. With the help of 5G technology, the way we interact with the devices like mobiles, appliances and even cars will be completely different.

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