5G ARCHITECTURE
Source: The Indian Express
Context
India's largest telecom company Reliance Jio on Monday announced the launch of its 5G services in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai by Diwali, to expand and cover the entire country by December 2023.
Key points
- The company said it would use a "stand-alone" approach that other operators are betting on.
- The disagreement between service providers on the next generation of mobile telephony also spotlights questions over the readiness of Indian consumers to move to 5G.
Different modes of 5G networks
- 5G networks are deployed mainly in two modes: Standalone and non-standalone.
- Each architecture has its advantages and disadvantages and the path chosen by operators reflects their view of the market for the new technology and consequently, their rollout strategy.
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In the standalone mode, which Jio has chosen, the 5G network operates with dedicated equipment and runs parallel to the existing 4G network.
In non-standalone mode, the 5Gnetwork is supported by the 4G core infrastructure.
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- Given that non-standalone networks are built on existing infrasture, the initial cost and time taken to roll out services are significantly less than standalone networks.
- Jio has committed an investment of Rs 2 lakh crores for its standalone 5G network.
Key Differences
- The standalone mode provides access to full 5G capabilities and new network functionalities such as slicing, which allows greater flexibility for operators to efficiently use their spectrum holdings.
- Non-standalone networks are generally considered to be a stepping stone and the global experience suggests operators that have launched non-standalone 5G networks eventually transition to standalone networks.
- The non-standalone mode operators maximise the utilisation of their existing network infrastructure with relatively lower investment.
- The biggest difference between the two architectures is in the aspect of their compatibility with existing device ecosystems.
| Most smartphones today can connect to non-standalone 5G networks which are essentially 5G airwaves transmitted through 4 G Networks and will require software updates by their original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to be able to connect to standalone networks. |
5G Smartphone ecosystem in India
- The share of 5G Smartphones in India has been rising steadily over the last two years.
- According to data sourced from analytics firm Counterpoint Research, 5G-enabled smartphones are expected to go from 3 per cent of overall smartphone shipments in India currently to 35 per cent by the end of this year.
| Smartphones in the mid-tier segment costing between Rs 20, 000 and Rs 30, 000 have the highest share of 5G smartphones at 39 per cent, followed by the budget segment where 34 per cent of all smartphones are 5G-enabled. |
- Until June 2022, Samsung had the biggest share of 5G Smartphones sold in the country with a market share of 24 per cent, followed by Vivo (13 Per cent) and One plus (13 Per cent).
- Reliance Jio is working with Google, which makes the Android operating system, to launch a budget 5G phone.
5G benefits
- 5G could have benefits for consumers owing to the superior internet speed and low latency it promises over 4G.
- Peak Internet speeds on 5G could touch 10 GBPS, Compared to the 100 Mbps peak of 4G.
- Latency in 4G is between 10-100 milliseconds (ms): on 5G it is expected to be under 1ms.
- Latency is the time it takes for a device to send packets of data and to get a response.
- The shorter the latency, the quicker the response.
Ericsson Report
| A May 2019 report by Ericsson, a key player in the 5G equipment market, said that contrary to the common belief that 5G may not deliver any near-term benefits to consumers, they expected 5G to offer a step change in network performance, relief from urban network congestion and more home broadband choices as near-term benefits. |
- The report pointed out that there was some scepticism about the actual benefits for consumers when 4G came in 2010.
- But today, several online activities that are possible on 4G would have been near impossible on 3G speeds from streaming ultra high definition content to making video calls, which became especially popular during the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Consumers expect to be able to stream videos seamless wherever they are, regardless of how many others are trying to do the same.
- Upgrading to 5G could bring rapid relief to consumers suffering from capacity constraints in their networks.
5G determines use cases
- For most industrial use cases such as manufacturing, the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence, the speeds and latency levels offered by 5G telephony are the key selling propositions.
- These low latencies and high internet speeds can only be made available through the standalone architecture.
- Also, given the high investments that would have typically gone into standalone modes, operates would look at designing high-margin offerings for business customers on these networks.
- Comparatively, the early rollout timelines and low infrastructure costs would make non-standalone networks more attractive for smartphone users.
Conclusion
- Non-standalone is the most widely available ecosystem in the world and as you know telecom is a game of ecosystems.
- In the US and South Korea, where both SA and NSA have been launched, the traffic on SA is less than 10 per cent of the total 5G traffic.
