5G Wireless: The Next Frontier In Internet Technology

The term 5G wireless is now being used by many a cell phone expert to denote the next major phase in mobile telecommunications. As of 2011 the 4G standard has yet to fully roll out and the term 5G is not, as yet, being officially described. Telecommunication providers have not released any official documents or issued statements regarding 5G for wireless communications.

Clearly, there are new handsets that appear to go beyond the current 4G capabilities, but they are not considered to be 5G at this time and thus fall under the 4G umbrella.

If a 5G standard is indeed to be implemented, it will not likely be until the year 2020 in North America. Historically, a new generation has appeared approximately every 10 years since the first system came out in the form of 1G in 1981. The 2G standard was widely adopted by 1992, while 3G made its appearance in 2001.

The current 4G standard has been widely implemented in 2011 although the roll-out has been by no means global, with further deployment expected throughout 2012.

There have been a number of ‘predecessor’ technologies that have appeared prior to each mainstream mobile generation. The pre 3G system was observable from 1995, while its pre 4G counterpart came out in 2005.

Ask any cell phone expert and they will tell you that it takes a long time for significant new technologies to be developed to a level at which they are ready for market. The development of both 2G and 3G took about 10 years respectively before they became standardized.

As yet, there have not been any 5G development projects officially launched. Indeed, a number of industry representatives have even expressed some skepticism in respect of the development of 5G.

New mobile generations are invariably assigned additional frequency bands and a wider spectral bandwidth for each channel. Skeptics argue that there is simply no room to accommodate this in the current infrastructure.

Nevertheless, a number of innovators are certainly attempting to propel the industry into what will arguably become the next generation. In 2008, South Korea announced plans to spend $58 million to develop 4G and 5G technologies. Since 4G is already a standard, it is not entirely clear whether South Korea is still actively in pursuit of developing the 5G standard.

The country’s principal objective, it seems, was to have the largest mobile phone share in the market by 2012, with the development of new international standards seen as being a positive by-product of the programme. The final outcome is, as yet, to be determined.

Switching to new generations has, historically, been associated with significant uplifts in peak bitrate. This has been essential in delivering the required speed for both uploads and downloads.

Current sources do not seem to suggest that an upgrade from a 4G to a 5G standard will have any such effect. At most, it is believed that the user will benefit from approximately the same 1 GBPS rates that are now being delivered with 4G.

Clearly, as greater clarity emerges in regard to 5G technology, this prognosis may change. For now it is thought that 5G will have to offer something other than pure speed in order to bring any significant advantage to the end user.

Perhaps it will modify the way in which users are charged for bandwidth usage. The industry has already begun to see initiatives in this regard from a number of providers as they strive to balance loading and revenues.

Other suggest that 5G may encompass a wide range of modest improvements to service delivery, none of which, alone, would constitute a significant advancement but which may collectively result in significant value. Ultimately, it remains to be seen how, when and indeed if the new generation is to be implemented.

Read more at Technology Blog by Ash Chuan