The arrival of a new year always brings with it a lot of innovations in technology. However, this year the postponement of the 5G network in our country has changed things. With the 5G network, we were promised mobile Internet up to 200 times faster than its predecessor 4G, but now it appears that this new network is not yet something for 2019. What effects does this have on our industry and what reactions does it provoke?
Especially among businesses, the delay provokes a lot of reactions. People like you and me use the mobile network almost every day. Whether it's the GPS app you use in your car, or an episode of your favorite series you quickly catch in the dentist's waiting room.
Although companies use the mobile network for different applications than "ordinary people," this delay represents a major hurdle in their technological growth and their position against foreign competitors.
Without access to 5G in our country, industry cannot test and optimize new applications for this particular network. For them, this results in watching helplessly as other players in the market take an ever-increasing lead over them.
What's different about 5G compared to 4G?
The "G" in 5G stands for "generation. With 4G we welcomed the 4th generation, so now it has to make room for a younger, faster generation. And faster means much faster: the network would be up to 200 times faster. In addition to being much faster, it is also a lot "stronger" than 4G. To give a clear example: to download a movie, 4G needs up to 10 minutes, while with 5G it only takes a few seconds to download the same movie.
Although it will greatly improve network speed, this is not the main reason why the arrival of 5G is good news. Above all, the new network is much more reliable and can handle much more data smoothly. That is, it also opens new doors for IoT (Internet Of Things) applications.
Why is there the delay?
Like previous generations, 5G works on the basis of frequencies. You can compare it to radio stations; each station has its own frequency. To decide who gets which spot just now, an auction of frequencies is organized. The big problem in our country: the various governments are not reaching an agreement for the time being on amending the telecom law that allows the auction of these 5G frequencies. Therefore, as long as there is no such agreement, there can be no auction.
Only after the May 26 federal elections can the safe talking point be put back on the agenda. If the decision is positive, it will be at least another year before the first 5G antennas can be seen in our landscape. Once installed, another - optimistically estimated - two years will pass before 95% of Belgians can enjoy this 5G network.
Which industries suffer from the delay?
There are a huge number of industries that will suffer from the delay and will clearly notice Belgium's technological lag.
5G in the medical world
Where the physical presence of a surgeon is currently required, the advent of this new network could make surgeries possible from a distance.
In surgery, the slightest wrong move can have a major impact. Although test surgeries in which the surgeon is not physically present in the OR are currently being performed on pigs, the technology is by no means ready for use in humans. This is because there is a delay between when the surgeon remotely transmits a command and when the robotic arm responds. With the new 5G network, that delay would be reduced to about 0.2 seconds, which would be a feasible delay.
5G in the construction industry
In the construction industry, 5G can also provide several advances. Consider, for example, the tracking of construction equipment - also known as asset management. That tracking of material and equipment is currently still done via a middle station connected to a Wi-Fi network. The new network would mean that that intermediate station would become redundant and data could be brought in directly. This would greatly speed up communication and make it easier.
The progress of large infrastructure works / construction projects could also be better monitored. There, people use sensors to view the status of a construction work in real time. But the data collected by these sensors is huge. To handle this huge amount of data, an enormously strong network is needed. A network like 5G.
5G in the VR and gaming sector
In terms of gaming, there are also a lot of things that will be "on hold" without 5G. The gaming world was completely turned on its head with the advent of virtual and augmented reality, think of the famous game Pokémon Go, for example.
The new and much faster network would open a door for a new generation of gadgets and possibilities, since with 5G there is almost no more of the kind of delay that we still notice today with the 4G network. A new world would also open up for live concerts taking place hundreds of miles away. They could be projected onto a stage near you without any delay. Thus, distance and location is no longer an issue.
It also means a gigantic advantage for online gaming tournaments. More players can connect and play simultaneously, and are no longer limited by data traffic delays, as these are reduced to an absolute minimum.
