What Is 5G? 

5G refers to the fifth generation of mobile networks. It follows previous generations of cellular networks:

• 1G was the first inception of wireless cellular technology and supported voice-only calls
• 2G introduced digital cellular technologies such as text messaging
• 3G enabled mobile internet access and video calling
• 4G increased network speeds to support video conferencing, gaming services and other technology requiring high speeds

Investments in 5G are in part a response to current upticks in video traffic, which is expected to quadruple from 56 exabytes globally in 2017 to 240 exabytes in 2022, corresponding with the rise of video technologies such as conferencing, streaming and virtual reality. 5G also has implications for the Internet of Things, due to its ability to function as a network that can support a greater number of devices with longer battery life.

5G networks will also alleviate overcrowded networks. Earlier generations of mobile phones have operated via networks on radio-frequency bands of the electromagnetic spectrum, but traffic over the years has increased on these sections of the spectrum. Wireless networks used in homes and schools will operate on lower frequencies, whereas 5G will operate near the highest frequencies to avoid overcrowding on these sections of the spectrum.

5G is expected to reach maximum speeds of one to 10 gigabits per second (Gbps), compared to a true 4G mobile network’s 100 Mbps. (The more common 4G LTE networks provide real-world download speeds between 25 and 50 Mbps.) Latency, which refers to the delay that precedes data transfers, will decrease to roughly one millisecond. Downloading a feature-length movie over 4G would take eight minutes, but it could take a mere five seconds via 5G — without buffering, no less.

The early inceptions of 5G that are already rolling out do not necessarily meet industry specifications that define true 5G. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and its partners have begun to establish the International Mobile Communications (IMT)-2020 standard, which will be finalized by 2020.

The most recent draft report details the following minimum specifications:

• Bandwidth must be 100 MHz at minimum
• For frequencies above 6 GHz, bandwidths up to 1GHz are required
• Downlink peak data rate: 20 Gbps
• Uplink peak data rate: 10 Gbps

At present, 5G network coverage is very spotty in the United States, but will become more widespread by 2022 and eventually improve overall. The amount of coverage in different areas also depends on the frequency band the network uses. Initial inceptions of 5G use millimeter wave, a high-frequency band that provides much speed and capacity, but has a more limited range because higher-frequency wavelengths travel shorter distances. Later rollouts of 5G will increasingly use a lower-frequency band called sub-6 GHz that offers slower speeds more comparable with 4G network speeds, but also provide wider coverage.

Combining millimeter wave and sub-6 GHz networks ultimately improves coverage, and this is what companies like AT&T and T-Mobile plan on doing: utilizing millimeter wave in cities and other more crowded locations to optimize for speed and capacity, while deploying sub-6 GHz in areas where signals need to travel farther.

In terms of holistic economic impact, 5G will produce trillions of dollars in goods and services across the world. 5G will be important across three broad constituencies:

1.  Enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), which improves wireless internet access to support consumer trends surrounding streaming and video content at large. Consumers will benefit most directly from eMBB, but 5G’s additional use cases extend beyond consumers and will shape the future of whole industries.
2. 5G’s requirements for the latency and reliability of networks will launch ultra-reliable and low-latency communications (URLLC), which will be crucial for technology such as self-driving vehicles and remote surgery.
3. In the realm of massive machine-type communications (mMTC), 5G will also let IoT technologies leverage data and digitization to increasingly optimize operations across today’s industries.

In terms of business impact, Qualcomm’s 5G Economy study estimates that 5G will produce up to $12 trillion in goods and services by 2035. The study also found that the mobile value chain of 5G could single-handedly support 22 million jobs and generate $3.5 trillion in revenue by 2035.

No discussion of 5G would be complete without an exploration of its far-reaching consequences for IoT. Whereas existing sensors can communicate among themselves, such connectivity utilizes a significant portion of LTE data capacity. Current infrastructure cannot support huge volumes of devices and the exchange of significant quantities of information without lags. Because 5G improves speed and reduces latency, fewer resources will be needed to connect an increasing number of devices.

Gartner has predicted that we’ll have as many as 20.4 billion connected devices by 2020, which means 5G’s rise is opportune. Connecting many devices can sap the batteries of the devices and consume significant amounts of energy, but on 5G networks, network energy usage will decrease by 90%, and battery life for low-power devices will extend to 10 years maximum. The new networks will also support 100 times more connected devices per unit area, compared to 4G LTE. Connecting even more devices to gather data in real time will revolutionize many aspects of society.

How will 5G affect healthcare? As mentioned previously, 5G’s implications for healthcare include increased use of massive machine-type communications (mMTC). Healthcare services will improve for rural and more remote areas, where the lack of adequate healthcare facilities can be solved by IoT connectivity. 5G’s enablement of ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC) makes possible technologies such as telemedicine, remote recovery, AR physical therapy and even remote surgery. Launching 5G also means mMTC can be increasingly utilized in healthcare, including to monitor patients via massive sensor networks and track compliance by prescribing smart pills that can record drug ingestion.

How will 5G affect retail? The retail industry will be able to leverage mobile experiences to enhance customer engagement. Digital signage, augmented reality and virtual reality can spawn innovative methods to make customers’ experiences more informative and appealing. Customers can use VR technology to visualize different home improvements and kinds of furniture before making a purchase, for example.

How will 5G affect smart cities? Municipal initiatives encompassing everything from waste management to traffic monitoring can benefit from 5G. As more sensors incorporate themselves into city networks, more systems can integrate and communicate with one another. Cities and municipalities can increase the efficiency of operations for everything from utility usage to street light maintenance to traffic control.

How will 5G affect manufacturing? In manufacturing environments, the low latency that comes with 5G enables remote control of heavy machinery, which reduces risks in manufacturing environments.

5G will deliver three kinds of new services: enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable and low-latency communications (URLLC) and massive machine-type communications (mMTC). Many believe that 5G will be instrumental in kickstarting the fourth industrial revolution, characterized by the fusion of the biological, digital and physical worlds, and manifested concretely through technological developments such as intelligent robots, gene editing and more. Here’s an overview of each of these new approaches and business models:

• eMBB: Enhanced mobile broadband is an extension of existing 4G services that offers faster data rates. In addition to faster downloads, it will also launch other innovations such as 360-degree video streaming and immersive AR and VR experiences.
• URLLC: Low latency is a must when the technology needs to respond as quickly as a human driver or doctor, enabling remote surgery or self-driving cars. URLLC also has profound implications for factory automation, where the usage of wired networks increases reliability and speed while lowering maintenance costs.
• mMTC: IoT-focused massive machine-type communications will increase capacity and enable new network capabilities. As 5G continues to develop, we can also look forward to new IoT features such as direct device-to-device communication.

These particular services and new business models aside, the increased overall digitization that comes with 5G is crucial for boosting the efficiency of industries at large. It’s been estimated that 30% of industries share 70% of the benefits of digitization. 5G is expected to advance digital transformation in additional industries.

Around 55% of an organization’s data is “dark,” meaning that most of this data — which can provide insights to better an organization’s efficiency, security and success overall — is untapped. For factory floors in particular, it’s been reported that 90% of this data isn’t gathered. This is where 5G comes in, with its potential to more effectively transmit data recorded from devices and inventory on the factory floor.

Developing economies and rural areas are less likely to benefit from 5G technology than more developed areas, at least in the short term. Rural areas will probably get a version of 5G that has less capacity but still increases speed and capacity by roughly 35%, along with significant reductions in latency.

Even the increases in speed in rural areas won’t be as significant as those experienced in more metropolitan areas. 5G networks operate on two frequencies: sub-6 GHz and millimeter-wave (mMWave) which operates on 20-60 GHz. However, mMWave’s high-frequency nature means its waves cannot travel long distances or penetrate buildings or windows. So for devices to get signal, they have to operate extremely closely to 5G nodes, which may be widely available in metropolitan areas, but less so in rural areas with fewer buildings and cell towers.

To resolve this issue, Sprint is using an existing mid-band spectrum at 2.5 GHz, which means signals can travel farther, but not as quickly as they would with mMWave. So there will be some sort of tradeoff between the reliability of the signal and its speed.

From an international perspective, 5G will not have a substantial effect on developing economies in the short term. Almost half of the world’s population is still not online, and many middle- and lower-income countries are still on 3G networks. Of course, those who already have connectivity and easy network access will profit the most as the first to receive 5G networks, but digital inequality will worsen, until the rest of the world is able to catch up and build the needed infrastructure.

Unlike 4G LTE, 5G networks will operate on three spectrum bands:

• Low-band: This sub-1 GHz spectrum band is primarily used by U.S. carriers for LTE coverage. Peak data speed is roughly 1000 Mbps.
• Mid-band: This spectrum allows faster coverage and lower latency than low-band, but it’s also unable to penetrate buildings. Its peak data speeds reach 1 Gpbs.
• High-band: This spectrum allows for low latency, but its coverage is also lower. It reaches peak speeds of 10 Gbps and is referred to as mmWave.

With 5G, a wide range of deployment models can also be used, from traditional macro-cells to hotspots. In addition, 5G offers new ways to interconnect, from device-to-device to multi-hop mesh.

Speed: 5G will be substantially faster than 4G LTE, offering 20 Gbps peak data rates and an average data rate of over 100 Mbps.

Capacity: 5G will likely increase traffic capacity and network efficiency: These will operate at 100 times the capacity and efficiency of 4G.

The launch of 5G doesn’t mean 4G LTE will become obsolete. The networks will coexist, with 5G building on its predecessor. For example, early 5G phones rely on 4G LTE technology for uplinking, such as uploading a video to Google Photos. Existing 5G networks in general rely on 4G for uploading and use 5G connections for downloading.

Additionally, there is the possibility of 5G and 4G wavelengths operating on the same spectrum, whereas 2G, 3G and 4G connections previously weren’t able to operate on identical parts of the spectrum. New technology called dynamic spectrum sharing, or DSS, enables carriers to utilize 4G and 5G on the same spectrum bands. DSS will ultimately make the transitions to 5G more seamless: Spectrum shortages can be avoided as 5G networks roll out, while some lanes can remain open for 4G.

Yes, we will need new phones for 5G because a compatible chip is required. Some of these devices are commercially available already. There is talk that Apple might release an iPhone in 2020 that supports 5G, whereas LG’s ThinQ is already available, as well as the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G and Samsung Galaxy Fold. Recently, Qualcomm announced a 5G PC called Project Limitless.

The rise of 5G means that more cell towers will be needed. 5G’s higher frequency lets signals travel faster, but these frequencies are also more easily absorbed by obstacles such as foliage and buildings. As of May 2019, Ericsson has around 350,000 cell towers within the United States and plans to increase the number to 1 million within the next four years in partnership with major 5G carriers.

The need for more infrastructure means that 5G networks won’t be ready for awhile, at least not until 2020 or 2021. Carriers need to build more towers in areas currently used for 4G LTE, not to mention areas that aren’t currently covered at all. Lower frequencies for 5G networks, which can actually penetrate buildings and other obstacles, won’t be ready until 2020 or 2021. This means that while networks may be deployed, only outdoor networks will function reliably because of the inability of signals to penetrate walls.

At the moment, AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint have launched their 5G networks, and as mentioned previously, some 5G mobile devices are already available for purchase. Nonetheless, these carriers have launched service for only limited parts of the United States.

Looking forward, Ericsson predicts that by 2023, global mobile data traffic will have grown eight times. It also anticipates that 20% of the world’s population will be covered by 5G, with 1 billion 5G subscriptions, 9 billion mobile subscriptions and 20 billion connected IoT devices.

As of August 2019, there were more than 600 commercially available 5G networks deployed across 293 locations worldwide. Switzerland led the network race with commercially available 5G networks in 225 cities, whereas within the United States, carriers had launched more than 40 networks, 22 of which are commercially available.

Compared to other countries, the United States has some advantages in the 5G network race because of its existing 4G networks and spectrum efficiency. Even so, progress can be impeded: Local and municipal governments have zoning authority over cell towers and base stations, which are required for the operation of 5G networks.

Potential drawbacks to 5G include potential health concerns and security risks. The debate concerning health risks of using cellphones has endured for decades, but thus far no sound scientific evidence has linked mobile phone usage to specific health concerns. On a broader scale, the massive uptick in mobile phone usage over the years has not led to a detected increase in cancer.

Previous generations of mobile networks have been subject to criticisms surrounding health risks, but scientific results have often been inconsistent, and the experiments that skeptics cite often use unreliable methods, according to Kenneth Foster, a professor of bioengineering at Pennsylvania State University.

There is also concern that 5G will come with its own set of security challenges. New services demand new approaches to security; for instance, automating vehicles increases the threat of automotive cyberattacks. In healthcare, increasing connectivity among medical devices helps with remote surgery, speedy transfers of patient health records, remote patient monitoring and more. However, this also heightens risks surrounding medical identity theft and other issues related to health privacy and data management in healthcare. The rise of IoT in general calls for more robust authentication methods to guard against unauthorized access.