5G technology: Is this a game-changer for Uganda’s devt?

The Uganda Vision 2040 identifies ICT as one of the fundamentals for the realization of Uganda's vision of "a transformed Ugandan society from a peasant to a modern and prosperous country within 30 years". The national vision thus seeks to continuously build robust ultra-high speed, pervasive, intelligent, and reliable ICT infrastructure all over the country in line with the changing technologies.

The fifth-generation mobile technology, commonly known as 5G, is the latest global wireless technology that presents significant potential to revolutionize various sectors such as communications, education, health, agriculture, public safety (disaster management), utilities management (water, electricity), industrialization, and transportation in developing countries such as Uganda. With its potential to enhance productivity and quality of life, 5G is seen as a game-changer that can facilitate the socio-economic transformation in the country.

5G is the latest iteration in a series of mobile technologies, succeeding 1G, 2G, 3G, and 4G. It offers lower latency (shorter time lag for data to move from one point to another across the network), higher network capacity, and increased bandwidth compared to its predecessor, 4G.

The evolution of mobile technology started with 1G around 1980, introducing analogue based mobile voice telephony; 2G in 1990 introduced digital networks, short message service (SMS) and roaming; and then 3G ushered in mobile internet around 2000. A decade later, 4G introduced an all-Internet Protocol (IP) based network for (voice, SMS and data services) along with faster internet speeds.

5G, however, expands broadband wireless services beyond merely having ultra-high speed mobile internet services to provision of massive connectivity that includes billions of Internet of Things (IoT) and critical communications segments that enable different types of applications. The improvements ushered in by 5G are widely expected to spark far-reaching impacts on how people live, work, and play all over the world.

As an evolutionary technology, 5G promises super-fast download speeds, high reliability, and extremely low latency. 3G and 4G networks often get congested when there are sudden increases in usage and thus traffic. This results in experience and performance challenges to users and applications. The 5G network offers a bigger data pipe, allowing users to avoid such due to better speed and more bandwidth. It can provide broadband speeds 10 to 100 times faster than 4G, allowing users to stream music, movies, and other content without buffering or lag.

With latency of 1 millisecond and reliability of 99.999%, 5G connectivity will be able to support applications that require high reliability and close to real-life/instantaneous information transfer such as remote surgery, remote control of critical infrastructure (smart grids), industrial automation, self-driving cars, and others.

5G is envisioned to facilitate the connection of virtually everyone and everything, creating a massive IoT ecosystem where billions of devices can communicate seamlessly, with the right trade-offs between speed, latency, and cost. With its higher data throughput, 5G ensures a significantly better customer experience compared to congested 4G networks.

5G is expected to be a key enabler of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, offering different forms of connectivity - fixed wireless access (providing high speeds to homes/offices that are similar to those possible over optical fibre without having to dig trenches), enhanced mobile broadband (very high mobile data speeds), massive machine to machine communications, and ultra-low latency IoT critical communications.

Despite the immense benefits, the realization of 5G in Uganda is associated with some challenges. To achieve or enjoy 5G performance necessitates having associated smart devices, radio access technology, access network, core network, and the cloud due to many physical network components being converted into software.

Besides, the availability and affordability of 5G compatible devices pose obstacles in developing countries such as Uganda. Currently, the cheapest smart phone in Uganda is around UGX 150,000 but such devices are not 5G compatible.

Operators need more transmitters to cover the same area as current 4G networks due to the propagation characteristics of the radio frequencies used. Although 5G offers 90% reduction in network energy usage per bit of data transmitted than 4G and facilitates low power consumption of devices, the additional transmitters associated with 5G cell site densification create a challenge in network energy management. Operators traditionally use grid-supplied electricity as a primary power source and diesel generators to provide back-up power, which has an impact on the cost of operating the site and in turn, the service. The recent trend though is to replace the generators with alternative renewable energy sources such as solar.  However, the cost of investment for such is still a challenge.

Another major challenge is public acceptance due to fears exacerbated by a high level of misinformation, especially on the Internet and rent seeking behavior. The realization of the ultra-high speeds of 5G involves the utilization of the high frequency mm-Waves and establishment of small cell towers in large numbers but this is done following regulations on deployment of infrastructure issued by National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) and other relevant bodies to ensure the safety of the populace and the environment.

Uganda currently has relatively high population coverage of 2G networks (98%) but lower coverage for 3G (86%) and 4G (31%). Infrastructure sharing has emerged globally as a popular strategy to mitigate challenges in construction, reduce duplication, and in turn lower the total cost of provision of communications services. Infrastructure sharing is also seen as a solution to the scarcity in the radio frequency spectrum.

In this vein, Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) developed an Infrastructure Sharing Framework and is developing a Framework for Spectrum Sharing to facilitate optimal utilization of spectrum and efficient ICT infrastructure development.

To facilitate the deployment and provisioning of broadband services, UCC recently invited applications for the assignment of spectrum in various frequency bands. The current spectrum usage policy also allows operators to deploy emerging technologies, including 5G, using spectrum that they already hold. Furthermore, the Commission has established a 5G testbed to support research and innovations in several emerging technologies and applications.

Some of the operators in Uganda have already undertaken pilots and initial deployments in very limited parts of the country. Further deployments of 5G technology are expected by the end of the year, especially around Kampala and Wakiso districts.

Therefore, the challenges notwithstanding, Uganda is on course to embrace the promise of 5G technology to accelerate socio-economic transformation.

The author is Ag. Executive Director, Uganda Communications Commission. This article was extracted from a keynote address delivered  by the author at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Women in Engineering (WIE) International Leadership Summit, at ISBAT University on 16th June, 2023.