Most of us have mobile phones and in the current era they are truly smart. Earlier they were just used to mediate voice communication, but today they perform wide range of duties , almost the replica of a mini-computer in our hand: we can receive calls, pass and receive messages and operate whole host of applications at any place anytime anywhere of our convenience and comfort. These smart phones infact act as mobile offices for us. 5G is simply the fifth generation network and is the latest global standard for wireless communications. Every few years, a new generations of mobile communications takes shape and is referred as 1G,2G,3G,4G,5G networks, and so on. In India, 5G services were launched in October 2022, with telecom companies currently offering services in 13 Tier-1 selected cities. The country is estimated to have over 150 million 5G users by the end of 2024. Before the commencement of 5G, there were four other communication generation networks and it began way back in 1979 or so when first generation of cell phones emerged with the network that mediated voice calling only. It took 20 years for the second generation or 2G to surface and what that facilitated apart from enhancing voice calling also enabled users to send out SMS messages and truly was a revolutionary feature in those circumstances and was a dramatic change that happened at that time. The 3 rd generation or 3G went even further and for the first time we were able to do video streaming and was truly a novelty and this was the time when global roaming was introduced .The next big leap was fourth generation or 4G which majority of the current users are using and it enhanced whatever features 3G offered but most importantly the speed was doubled by as much as 15 times than what 3G had. Now comes 5G: 5G means 10 times the speed of 4G. 5G is expected to facilitate an average data rate of 100 megabits per second and promises to scale up to 20 gigabits per second. These higher speeds will potentially ensure lower latency rates-the time it takes for data to transfer or download and, thus, more reliability in mobile data communications
Ground breaking utilities of 5G: Ashwani Vaishnav, the Union Minister for communications who oversees the telecom ministry ,the most erudite and learned minister of the Modi –led Government said that the two major areas
where 5G could revolutionize the way we live are Health and Education Sectors. Take health and this is all simplified ,with 5G we could have diagnosis were over video ,we could consult our clinician or doctor in real time and he could see the kind of problems we are suffering from and these ailments should not require a personal presence and if they don’t ,consultation will be instantaneous without
patient having to visit and that would not only save time but money as well.
There are whole range of areas apart from health, education and agriculture that 5G would impact. Let us take a look of businesses. 5G would help a businessman say in Srinagar, a small industry where in he wants to demonstrate his product to someone in U.A.E or U.S. He could do it in real time and with more clarity and that is required for such decisions and business deals could be struck.
There are other various services 5G can offer in the health sector including linking ambulances and real time communications that could be communicated to the hospital. The ultra-fast speed of 5G indeed holds the promise of revolutionary changes in how we communicate and consume content on the internet. Upgraded
mobile services is among the most noticeable impact of initial 5G network rollouts. However it will subsequently impact Edtech, autonomous and robotics systems, telemedicine and precision agriculture. Besides 5G will unleash the benefits of Internet of Things (IOT) technologies and connected devices. High speed and low latency will enable the connected devices to communicate in real time , offering better and more reliable performance . This will benefit house hold purposes ( such as IoT –enabled smart homes) and industrial sector ( for example , smart factories and automated manufacturing). According to one estimate , by
2035, 5G will enable US$ 13.2 trillion of Global economic out put and support 22.3 million jobs. The other domain where 5G can truly play a catalyzing role is Education sector .During COVID – 19 we saw huge emphasis was laid on digital driven education. Now what will 5G do? It will enhance the entire experience , because the band width is large, there will be no time lag in videos and heavy files can be put in to it and the learning experiences between the teacher and the student is expected to be enhanced considerably. The other area that the experts talk about is in the drone sector. We have a lot of drones playing their crucial in varied areas and this will be multiplied manifold. Among them is agriculture. The drones could control how much spray of pesticides is to be done , what would be the fertilizers to be used as well as the irrigation in terms of quantity of water to be distributed and here we could actually calculate with these drones available and with 5G network, where actually the soil is least irrigated , how much water does it need and subsequently supply that water and thus play a significant role in preventing non-judicious use of water and will directly stabilize the environment by preventing wastage of water. There are whole range of areas apart from health, education and agriculture that 5G would impact. Let us take a look of businesses. 5G would help a businessman say in Srinagar, a small industry where in he wants to demonstrate his product to someone in U.A.E or U.S. He could do it in real time and with more clarity and that is required for such decisions and business deals could be struck. When it comes to the transport sector , we could see a revolution not only in terms of Fastag that are there , which enable us to cross various barriers particularly the toll plazas with speed but also the introduction of driver less cars and the efficiency and the safety that is required for it to perform and 5G network will enable that. So 5G infact is one of the most superfast networks that we will get in Jammu and Kashmir.
( The author an educator by profession has mailed this article tob Kashmir Horizon” for publication in this newspaper. The views, opinions, facts, assumptions, presumptions and conclusions expressed in this article are those of the author and aren’t necessarily in accord with the views of “Kashmir Horizon”.)
aroushfatimamar15@gmail.com
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