FEATURE: 5G
The potential of 5G lies in its
ability to transform the way
people live and work as well as
the way industries operate. And
as Deon Geyser, Head of the
Southern Africa subregion at
Nokia, tells us, Africa is equally
capable of embracing the huge
potential of mobile technology
as the rest of the world, despite
the limitations of its existing
infrastructure and complex
connectivity challenges.
I
ndustries have adopted 2G, 3G and 4G in
incremental steps as these technologies
have evolved within the constraints of
legacy technologies and capabilities.
Now, 5G is introducing an opportunity for the
industry to embrace growth and innovation.
But only if it is done with a clear focus on
what 5G can realistically deliver and a clear
eye on the future.
To fully capitalise on 5G, the industry has
to re-architecture the networks because
new services will not only be about high
bandwidth but also about low latency.
The future is about ensuring that systems
and solutions are ‘always on’ and intelligent,
providing industry verticals with the ability to
fully recognise the capabilities of automation.
There have been some concerns around how
quickly 5G could become a reality within
the African context due to legacy network
infrastructure issues and connectivity in
many areas remaining limited. However,
a significant percentage of local networks
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
have already started to explore how they can
capitalise on 5G and commercialise their 5G
in non-standalone architecture.
It has become clear that great 5G runs
on top of great 4G. In non-standalone
architecture, the 5G control information
goes through the LTE eNodeBs and the
throughput can tap the resources of 5G
and 4G through dual connectivity. This
means that if you have the best performing
4G network, you are already ahead of the
game in 5G.
A recent study conducted by RootMetrics
confirmed that 62% of the Nokia-powered
LTE networks operated by one of the big four
– Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon in the
United States, delivered the fastest or second-
fastest network speed. This RootMetric score
is highly relevant in the context of 5G as
the best LTE network performance is the
foundation for the best 5G.
FWA (Fixed Wireless Access) is a potential 5G
use case in Africa, especially where deploying
fibre for the last mile is either practically
difficult or too expensive. 5G can provide
high throughput for the home broadband
through FWA.
If positioned properly, 5G can introduce
the opportunity for enterprises in
various industry verticals to look towards
implementing inventive solutions that could
fundamentally change how they operate.
Nokia has already invested in numerous 5G
use cases that have allowed communities to
overcome ongoing obstacles to growth and
development and for organisations to build
sustainable solutions.
We have developed a solution that creates
an immersive education experience for
learners with limited access to textbooks.
With this, children can access remote and
enhanced teacher training using online
tools and platforms. Virtual Reality (VR)
can be used to train teachers and students
and provides them with visually immersive
aids that change how they engage with
learning materials.
The potential
of 5G in Africa
46
INTELLIGENTCIO
www.intelligentcio.com