The status of 5G global deployment

Okay, we’ve heard quite a lot about 5G. The article of 6 May 2019 in  this  column,  “Expert  advice  to  governments  on  effective  5G deployments,”  goes  into  details  on  spectrum  availability  and  the “touchiness” of 5G because of the high frequencies. I talked about how  the  millimeter  waves  –  typically  associated  with  the  5G network, […]

Okay, we’ve heard quite a lot about 5G. The article of 6 May 2019 in  this  column,  “Expert  advice  to  governments  on  effective  5G deployments,”  goes  into  details  on  spectrum  availability  and  the “touchiness” of 5G because of the high frequencies. I talked about how  the  millimeter  waves  –  typically  associated  with  the  5G network, are able to carry lots of data, but that the waves are also dissipated  more  easily  by  gases  in  the  air,  trees,  and  nearby buildings, when compared to low-frequency waves.

So, while 5G may be “God-sent” for superfast communication speeds in densely packed networks, they are not able to carry data for long distances (due  to  the  attenuation),  when  compared  to lower-frequency networks (1G through 4G).

The  electromagnetic  spectrum,  within  which  X-Rays,  light  and visible rays, and the microwaves operate, also includes the (radio) waves for your AM and FM radio, and the millimeter waves. The approximate capacities (data transfer rates) of the various networks are as follows: 1G (2 kilobits per second, or 2 kbps), 2G (64 kbps), 3G (144kbps to 2Mbps), 4G (100Mbps to 1Gbps) and 5G (1Gbps and higher).

Typical frequencies are: 1G (Analog signal, 30 KHZ), 2G  (digital  signal,  1.8GHz),  3G  (digital,  1.6  –  2.0  GHz),  4G (digital, 2 – 8 GHz), and 5G (digital, 3 – 300 GHz).

Practically speaking, typical frequencies of 5G are not easy to state because  of  the  intrinsic  instability  of  the  network  and  hence  the need to combine different (low, medium, and high) frequency parts of the radio spectrum for acceptable 5G performance.    The  holy  grail  of  the  5G  technology  is  the  available  frequency bands. In the 6 May 2019 article, I pointed out that “the country that  wins  the  5G  race,  from  the  standpoint  of technology deployment,  is  not  going  to  be  the  most  innovative, but  the  one with the availability and wherewithal to make available to carriers, the  correct  combination  of  spectrum  (low,  medium,  high) frequency bands, in a contiguous manner.”

A GSMA white paper suggests that 5G needs spectrum within three key frequency ranges to deliver widespread coverage and support all use cases. (GSMA stands  for  GSM  (Global  System  for  Mobile  communication) Association.) The three ranges are: Sub-1 GHz, 1-6 GHz and above 6  GHz.  The  Sub-1  GHz  frequencies  will  support  widespread coverage across urban, suburban, and rural areas and help support Internet  of  Things  (IoT)  services.  The  1-6  GHz frequencies  will offer a good mixture of coverage and capacity benefits, including spectrum within the 3.3-3.8 GHz range, which GSMA expects will form  the basis  of  many  initial  5G  services.  Frequencies  above  6 GHz  are  needed  to  meet  the  ultra-high  broadband  speeds envisioned for 5G.

What does the current global 5G deployment landscape look like today, 17 August 2020? In the US, many carriers (AT&T, Sprint/T-Mobile,  U.S.  Cellular,  Verizon,  Mint  Mobile,  and  so  on)  have deployed 5G capabilities to various degrees. Let’s  look  at  AT&T, as  an  example.  On  23  July  2020,  AT&T  made  the  big announcement that its 5G has become available to all its business and  private  customers  as  of  this  date.

Regarding  the  speed  of AT&T’s  5G,  it’s  quite  modest,  compared  to  what  is  technically possible:  850  MHz  for  the  company’s  low-band  5G rollout.  The company says this band has a reach of about 2 miles from cell sites and will cover “tens of millions” of consumers and businesses this year. AT&T plans to deliver nationwide sub-6 GHz 5G coverage anytime from now, if it hasn’t already.   Whither China in 5G? The carriers China Mobile, China Unicom, and  China  Telecom,  have  reportedly  already  built  more  than 250,000 5G base stations across China, according to Lu Chuncong, Deputy  Director  of  the  Information  and  Communications Administration  of  the  Ministry  of  Industry  and  Information Technology. The projected number of 5G base stations by the end of  2020  is  approximately  600,000.  The  current  number  of  5G subscribers in China exceeds 36 million.   Europe lagged the US by approximately one year in deploying 4G LTE.

However, the continent is more aggressive on 5G.  In April of 2019, Switzerland’s Swisscom became the first European carrier to switch  on  its  5G  service,  followed  by  UK’s  EE  in  May  2019. Vodafone  is  also  deploying  5G  in  UK  and  beyond.  Vodafone Germany  reportedly  started  its  5G  network  in  July  2019,  and  it wants to reach approximately 10 million people with 5G by the end of 2020.   Regarding the rest of the world: In India, 5G networks have not yet been  built!

Concerning  South  America,  according  to mexicanist.com on 9 March 2020, “there are now five 5G networks in the region, and they are in Uruguay, where it was launched in April  2019,  and in Puerto  Rico, Trinidad  and Tobago, Suriname, and Aruba (the last four were launched last December 2019).”

As for Africa, according  to dignited.com on 16 May 2020, “Lesotho and  South  Africa  are  the  only  African  countries  where  5G  is commercially  available,  although  they  are  extremely  limited.  In Lesotho,  the  Central  Bank  and  a  mining  company  are  the  only entities using 5G so far. In South Africa, Rain (a data provider) is offering 5G to a select group of customers.”

While there may be perhaps millions of 5G phones in Nigeria, to my  knowledge,  the  carriers  there  have  not  announced  any  5G deployments.