Central government had set a target of 2020 for the commercial launch of 5G services, largely in line with rest of the world. 

What is 5G?

• It is the next generation cellular technology that will deliver multi-Gbps peak rates, ultra-low latency, massive capacity, and a more uniform user experience
• Speed will be range of 2-20 Gigabit per second (Gbps) in contrast to 4G link speeds in averaging 6-7 Megabit per second (Mbps) in India

• But once 5G becomes commercial, users will be required to change their current devices in favour of 5G-enabled ones.

Applications of 5G

• Expansion of wireless technologies —across completely new sectors of the economy from industrial (robotics) to commercial, educational, health care (Tele-surgery), agricultural (sensors), financial (block chain technology) and social sectors (climate studies).
• Internet-of-Things (IOT)- 5G will form the backbone of IOT. 5G will help in creating cyber-physical networks which not only interconnect people, but also interconnect and control machines, objects, and devices
•  Sensor-embedded network that will allow real time relay of information across fields such as manufacturing, consumer durables and agriculture. 
• Smart transport infrastructure -5G will enable vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, making driverless cars, among other things, a reality.

Economic Impact of 5G adoption

• 5G is expected to create a cumulative economic impact of $1 trillion in India by 2035.
• 5G-enabled digitalisation revenue potential in India will be above $27 billion by 2026. 
• Additionally, global telecom industry GSMA has forecast that India will have about 70 million 5G connections by 2025.

Major challenges of adopting 5G are 

1. Standardisation of 5G:

• As it stands today, 5G is not a defined standard.
• Fragmentation of next generation approaches will only mean that development time and costs will increase.
• Thus, there is a need for standardising an approach and bringing all of the major technology partners on board

2. Huge Investments required for enabling infrastructure:

• 5G will require a fundamental change to the core architecture of the communication system. Simply upgrading the existing Long Term Evolution core will not be able to support 5G
• A report on 5G by Deloitte stated that rolling out 5G might require an additional investment of $60-70 billion. 

3. Pricing Issue: 

• There is a strong correlation between broadband price and adoption levels: for example – 1% increase in mobile broadband prices results in 0.13% decrease in adoption rates (low income) according to International Telecommunication Union
• And a 1% decrease in mobile broadband adoption results in 0.19% decrease in GDP per capita (low income).

4. 5G enabled Devices & its affordability: 

• 5G smartphone models are likely to cost much more than present phone— with enhanced features, cameras and sensors to support AR and VR applications
• A significant number (close to 300 million) of users are still on 2G/2.5G networks — and feature phones are widely in use. Device cost is of relevance to a price-sensitive market like India.

5. Financial Health of Telecom Sector:

• By end of 2019, the industry’s cumulative debt was pegged at around ?7 lakh crore. 
• Also, total mobile revenues in India have fallen by more than 20 per cent over past four years. 
• This restricts telecos capability to roll out 5G in a sustainable manner.

6. Uncertainity in 5G spectrum Auction: 

• The COAI has also pointed out that 5G is overpriced by at least 30% to 40% compared to international standards and auction in other markets such as South Korea and the U.S. 
• Telecos have pointed out that the reserve price of these airwaves is very high. Besides, there are currently no India-specific use cases for deployment of 5G.

7. Potential health hazards of tens of thousands of radiating base stations.

Even technologically advanced countries like Israel are refusing to implement 5G on account of a host of unknowns like potential health impact of 5G radiations

8. Dependence on China: Huawei which is a Chinese firm owns the majority of 5G technology in the world. However, there are concerns that dependence on China for critical infrastructure like 5Gcould compromise India’s security.

Conclusion

Inspite of the potential benefits of 5G, India needs to be cautious while rolling out 5G. A balanced assessment of its potential applications and demand must be made. Realistic and gradual expansion up the value chain is needed. In this scheme of things, more mature policy making is expected.

Connecting the dots

• US ban on Huawei
• 5G Spectrum allocation
• Aggregate Gross Revenue (AGR) issue of telecos and its impact on 5G rollout