To date the promise of 5G — shorthand for the fifth generation of wireless networks — has exceeded the reality. That, however, is changing, with news that all the telecom giants are in the process of rolling out 5G technology (or soon will be), with the expectation of a substantial breakthrough in 2020.

1. 5G is Coming (Really): The Slow
Rollout of a Speedier Network
By Marc
Weisberg

2. To date the promise of 5G — shorthand for the
fifth generation of wireless networks — has
exceeded the reality. That, however, is changing,
with news that all the telecom giants are in the
process of rolling out 5G technology (or soon will
be), with the expectation of a substantial
breakthrough in 2020.
The full potential of the technology will be
explored in subsequent years, but the predictions
are that it will represent a quantum leap beyond
that which is in place at present. One report went
so far as to state that 5G will deliver data at a
speed 100 times greater than 4G — that you will
be able to download a two-hour movie in 3.6
seconds, as opposed to six minutes for 4G.
3G? That would have taken 26 hours.

3. Such speed means minimal latency — i.e., a command is almost instantly executed — which has massive
implications for the Internet of Things. Smart homes will become smarter. Smart cars will finally become a
reality. A piece in the April 26 issue of the New Yorker ventured even beyond that, pointing out that smart
weaponry and remote surgery will enter the realm of possibility, and another report noted that augmented
reality glasses and virtual reality headsets will likely go mainstream as well — so much so that it’s possible
to envision them supplanting smartphones as preferred everyday devices.
Then there is the big-picture impact of 5G. It is expected to add $12 trillion to the worldwide economy
between now and 2035. That includes some $3.5 trillion in the U.S., where it could also create as many as
22 million jobs.

4. A memorandum issued by President Donald J. Trump in October 2018
underscored the urgency of getting 5G up and running:
“While American industry continues to extract greater and greater
value from spectrum, each technological leap also increases demands on
its usage. Those demands have never been greater than today, with the
advent of autonomous vehicles and precision agriculture, the expansion
of commercial space operations, and the burgeoning Internet of Things
signaling a nearly insatiable demand for spectrum access. Moreover, it is
imperative that America be first in fifth-generation (5G) wireless
technologies — wireless technologies capable of meeting the
high-capacity, low-latency, and high-speed requirements that can
unleash innovation broadly across diverse sectors of the economy and
the public sector.”
Nine months earlier Axios had obtained a National Security Council
memo that outlined the need for a nationwide centralized 5G network
within three years — i.e., by January 2021 — though the memo
stopped short of sketching out how such a network would be built or
funded. Likened to the National Highway System constructed during
Dwight D. Eisnehower’s time in the White House, this network is
viewed by the federal government as a necessity because of the inroads
China has made on the 5G front, and what that might mean for national
security.

5. At present, the Chinese company Huawei is the global
leader in 5G technology, as it controls 30 percent of
the telecom market. The U.S. government, suspicious
that that company might have ties to China’s
intelligence community, has banned Huawei’s
hardware from domestic networks. Japan, New
Zealand and Australia have followed suit, but the
European Union has declined to do so. So too has
Canada, the argument being that such a ban does not
solve any potential cybersecurity issues — that
Chinese software is still in use, or can be
reprogrammed remotely by an enterprising hacker.
In the meantime, the major U.S. carriers charge
ahead on the 5G front. AT&T began offering it to
select customers in 12 cities in December 2018, and
expanded it to nine others in 2019, in hopes of having
a nationwide network by 2020. (The company was,
however, roundly criticized for relaying a “5GE” logo
to its customers’ phones, which means “5G Evolution”
— i.e., expanded LTE technology — not that they
were receiving 5G service.)

6. Verizon is hoping to have mobile 5G in 20 cities by the end of 2019, while Sprint expects to be in nine by mid-2019. T-Mobile
is also aiming to begin laying the groundwork for a nationwide network late in 2019.
The onset of 5G brings with it the need for new, pricier phones. The Moto Z3 was the first to hit the market, though it will
need the Moto Mod, which attaches to the back of the phone, to access a 5G network. Next was the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G,
which was scheduled to be released by Verizon in May 2019, the other networks a month later. Sprint will also introduce the
LG V50, and Huawei is (naturally) among those companies releasing phones outside the U.S.
The stumbling blocks associated with 5G’s release include the limited range of the bands most U.S. carriers favor, known as
millimetre waves. Verizon’s range was found to be just 300 feet in Chicago, while AT&T’s was 600 feet in Dallas. This will
likely necessitate the introduction of some 300,000 new cell sites throughout the U.S., in addition to the 150,000 existing cell
towers. And that in turn has led to health concerns, considering the low-level radiation such devices emit.

7. Others have noted the surveillance potential of such relays,
which China has notably used for sinister purposes. And
finally, there is the concern about 5G’s limited reach into rural
areas. A telecom company known as Rivada Networks hopes
to exploit that market, having proposed a partnership with the
U.S. Department of Defense for use of its seldom-used
spectrum.
Under Rivada’s plan, it would monetize the network (to the
tune of $3.5 trillion, according to the company’s estimates)
and share the proceeds with the government. As of late May
2019 nothing had been finalized, and Rivada had been
rebuffed in an earlier bid for the First Responders Network
Authority (a.k.a., FirstNet), which falls under the auspices of
the Department of the Interior.
The point here is that a great many parties see the potential of
5G. Now it’s a matter of fully realizing it.

8. Thanks for reading!
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