Introducing 5G technology and networks (definition, use cases and rollout)

In this Q&A page, you'll discover key facts about 5G:

• What is 5G?
• How fast is 5G?
• What is the difference between 4G and 5G?
• What are the 5G use cases?
• When is 5G coming, and where is it available?
• What does it mean for consumers and operators?
• Will 5G technology be secure?

Let's see how 5G technology is about to change the world.

• 220 megabytes per second (Mbps)  in Las Vegas 
• 350 in New York, 
• 380 in Los Angeles, 
• 450 in Dallas, 
• to 550 Chicago, 
• and over 950 in Minneapolis and Providence approximatively.

But here is the part where you understand 5G is a lot more than that.

What is 5G low latency? 

The average reaction time for humans to a visual stimulus is 250 ms or 1/4 of a second. People are capped at around 190-200 ms with proper training.

Imagine now that your car could react 250 times faster than you. Imagine it could also respond to hundreds of incoming information and can also communicate its reactions back to other vehicles and road signals all within milliseconds. 

At 60 mph (100km/h), the reaction distance is about 33 yards (30 meters) before you pull on the brakes. With a 1ms reaction time, the car would only have rolled a bit more than one inch (less than 3 centimeters). 

Use cases associated with low latency are: 

• V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything) communication: V2V: (Vehicle-to-Vehicle), V2I (Vehicle-to-Infrastructure), autonomous, connected cars
• Immersive Virtual Reality Gaming (5G will bring VR to the masses)
• Remote surgical operations (aka telesurgery)
• Simultaneous translating.

So, let' s see what makes 5G so different from 4G.

5G vs. 4G - What is the difference?

The 5th generation of wireless networks addresses the evolution beyond mobile internet to massive IoT (Internet of Things) from 2019/2020 onwards. 

The main evolution compared with today’s 4G and 4.5G (LTE advanced) is that, beyond data speed improvements, new IoT and critical communication use cases will require a new level of improved performance. 

• For example, low latency is what provides real-time interactivity for services using the cloud: this is key to the success of self-driving cars, for example.   
• 5G vs. 4G also means at least x100 devices connected. 5G must be able to support 1 million devices for 0.386 square miles or 1 Km2.
• Also, low power consumption is what will allow connected objects to operate for months or years without the need for human assistance.

Unlike current IoT services that make performance trade-offs to get the best from current wireless technologies (3G, 4G, WiFi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, etc…), 5G networks will be designed to bring the level of performance needed for massive IoT. 

It will enable a perceived, entirely ubiquitous connected world.

In short, that’s what makes it transformational. 

5G and the previous mobile generations at a glance

In the last four decades, mobile phones, more than any other technology, have quietly changed our lives forever.

Do you remember how much you loved your 2G Nokia 3310? 

• 1G, the first generation of telecom networks (1979), let us talk to each other and be mobile
• 2G digital networks (1991) let us send messages and travel (with roaming services)
• 2.5G and 2.75G brought some improvement to data services (GPRS and EDGE)
• 3G (1998) brought a better mobile internet experience (with limited success)
• 3.5G brought a truly mobile internet experience, unleashing the mobile apps eco-system
• 4G (2008) networks brought all-IP services (Voice and Data), a fast broadband internet experience, with unified networks architectures and protocols
• 4 G LTE ( for Long Term Evolution), starting in 2009, doubled data speeds
• 5G networks expand broadband wireless services beyond mobile internet to IoT and critical communications segments

Virtual networks (5G slicing) tailored to each use case

5G will be able to support all communication needs from low power Local Area Network (LAN) – like home networks, for example, to Wide Area Networks (WAN), with the right latency/speed settings. 

The way this need is addressed today is by aggregating a broad variety of communication networks (WiFi, Z-Wave, LoRa, 3G, 4G, etc…)

And 5G is smarter.  

5G is designed to allow simple virtual network configurations to align network costs with applications needs better. 

This new approach will allow 5G Mobile Network operators to catch a larger piece of the IoT market pie by being able to deliver cost-effective solutions for low broadband, low power applications.  

What are the real 5G use cases?

Each new generation wireless network came with all new set of new usages. 

The next coming 5G will make no exception and will be focused on IoT and critical communications applications. 

In terms of the agenda, we can mention the following uses cases over time:

• Fixed wireless access (from 2018-2019 onwards)
• Enhanced mobile broadband with 4G fall-back (from 2019-2020-2021)
• Massive M2M / IoT (from 2021-2022)
• Ultra low-latency IoT critical communications (from 2024-2025)

Some key applications like self-driving cars require very aggressive latency (fast response time) while they do not require fast data rates.  

Conversely, enterprise cloud base services with massive data analysis will require speed improvements more than latency improvements.

When is 5G coming? 

Where is 5G technology in terms of roll-out, standardization, and how long will this take?

• End of October 2019, 50 mobile operators have launched commercial 5G services in 27 countries across all continents.

• ITU-R launched “IMT for 2020 and beyond” in 2012, setting the stage for 5G.
• Japan and Korea started to work on 5G requirements in 2013.
• NTT Docomo did the first 5G experimental trials in 2014.
• Samsung, Huawei, and Ericsson started prototype development in 2013.
• South Korean SK Telecom demoed 5G in 2018 at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
• Ericsson and TeliaSonera made commercial services available in Stockholm and Tallinn in 2018.
• North America 5G is available in some locations in 2019. It won't take off in most areas until 2020.
• In the US, more precisely, AT&T is announcing nationwide coverage in the first half of 2020. Verizon 5G was the first carrier to roll out 5G. 
• Deutsche Telekom started 5G in Berlin, Darmstadt, Munich, Bonn, and Cologne in Sept 2019.
• In the UK, many cities will see 5G in 2019 and more in 2020. EE, Vodaphone, and O2 are actively deploying 5G since mid-2019.
• India is targeting 2020 for 5G roll-out
• Japan's target is to launch 5G for the 2020 Tokyo summer Olympics.
• China Unicom has set up 5G in a few locations in 2019. 460 million 5G connections are expected by GMSA in China by 2025.

  More resource: 5G availability around the world as of January 2020.  

In short, 2019 is when 5G lifts off, and 2020 is when 5G networks and 5G phones will be available en masse for the users.

Which brings us to our next point...

New 5G phones in 2020 - 5G for all?

AT&T will launch fifteen 5G phones by the end of the year in the U.S.

We can count on twenty 5G devices this year from Verizon. Some will be priced below $600.

At the Consumer Electronics Show (7 to 10 January 2020 in Las Vegas), at least two companies revealed new 5G phones that will cost less than $500. These lower-cost phones will help make 5G more affordable for many of us.

Similarly, Samsung is preparing to release its new Galaxy S line of phones on 11 February 2020 in San Francisco. These new devices are also likely to have a lower price point than the company’s current line of 5G phones.

How fast will 5G take-up be?

The projected adoption rate for 5G differs drastically from all previous generation networks (3G, 4G). 

• According to a June 2019 report from Ericsson, 5G will reach 45% population coverage and 1.9 billion subscriptions by 2024, making it the fastest generation ever to be rolled out on a global scale.