This is why 5G network is crucial to ending digital divide
It's fair to assume that high points were few and far between during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, with the introduction of the country's first 5G, which supports both commercial mobile and fixed wireless 5G networks, South Africans experienced at least one welcome advancement earlier this year.
Though individuals were confined to their homes during lockdown for a prolonged period of time, many South Africans living in major metros were able to use 5G technology to remain in touch, work from home, and keep themselves entertained.
Not unexpectedly, there was a greater demand for data during this period than ever before. During the last week of June, during the height of the pandemic, Vodacom reported a 40 percent rise in mobile data traffic in South Africa, compared to pre-COVID-19 lockdown levels.
As the people of the nation gradually turned to technology as a lifeline to stay linked to the outside world, the inequality of the digital divide of South Africa was brought into focus all the more sharply.
In South Africa, the problem of internet connectivity is definitely not new. According to GSMA Intelligence statistics, the larger sub-Saharan Africa region has long struggled with widespread access to connectivity, with mobile internet usage penetration across the region now sitting at 26 percent, which is expected to rise to 39 percent by 2025.
Statistics SA, looking primarily at South Africa, reports that the mobile internet connectivity penetration of the nation is currently at 52.8 percent of the population.
Smartphone availability still appears to be a major barrier when it comes to closing the digital divide. There is a great need to be able to provide both coverage and access, as well as devices at a lower cost, especially for those living in rural areas, in order to really narrow the divide.
According to the World Bank, there is a 1 percent rise in GDP in a country for every estimated 10 percent increase in mobile broadband penetration.
Many individuals do not know that modern generations of mobile technology such as 4G and 5G do not only deliver remarkable, higher download rates, but also play a key role in making it more cost-effective for network providers to provide greater numbers of people with internet access.
This is because more bandwidth can be fitted into the same spectrum, resulting in lower capital and operational expenditure costs relative to the continued introduction of legacy mobile networking systems to meet the exponentially increasing demand for data services.
The prospects are exciting. However, the unfortunate reality is that, according to the GSMA, just 9 percent of the total population in Sub-Saharan Africa is currently linked using 4G.
Creating the foundations for a future that is tech-enabled
If sub-Saharan Africa is to overcome its communication gap, spectrum allocation needs to be urgently addressed. This is important not only for the purpose of bridging the digital divide, but also for the ability of the region to remain competitive in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR).
In the 4IR age, 5G is fast evolving as a key enabler of a modern technologically powered society. 5G was developed to meet the increasing data and communication needs of modern society as a more powerful technology than its predecessors.
Not only does the current generation of mobile technology, as described above, use spectrum in a far more efficient way than its predecessors, it can also fit more data into the same amount of spectrum (known as bits/Hz calculated spectral efficiency). This makes it a good choice to have connectivity close to fibre in places that do not currently have fibre to the home or business.
5G will use the mobile network to allow fibre-like speeds. In the future, the higher 5G speeds will also allow completely new applications such as augmented and virtual reality (VR) that will be helpful in introducing new applications such as e-education, remote healthcare, and also completely new forms of entertainment such as watching a sports game live from your home in VR.
Another field that 5G greatly strengthens is latency. This is the time it takes to transmit and receive signals between devices, which has become important for applications needing near-real-time responses.
Cloud gaming, smart homes, smart cities and mission-critical intelligent manufacturing and utilities will also be enabled by increased latency.
5G devices are now able to link to the network for even other apps and devices. This is why technology is generally known as the real enabler of the Internet of Things.
It is worth noting that 5G devices are projected to become more easily available to South Africans in the future compared to the same time curve since the launch of 4G devices when it comes to people living in rural areas being able to afford 5G devices.
This is already demonstrated by countries such as China, where in a very short span of time we have seen the large proliferation of 5G devices.
The rollout of 5G will produce economies of scale in countries such as China, the USA, South Korea and even several European countries, which will in turn significantly increase the affordability of smartphones.
In addition to this, not only in the premium segment, but also in the mid-tier segment, we are already seeing the launch of increasingly cost-effective 5G-enabled smartphones around the world.
The major advantages of 5G in catering to the increased demand for data during our national lockout have already been shown by South Africa, but this is just the tip of the iceberg.
In driving a more equitable and digitally-enabled future, higher-generation mobile technologies have a crucial role to play. Focusing on making the widespread implementation of these innovations a fact is more important than ever.
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