Gyanmandu:
It has been nearly a decade in the making, but 5G is finally becoming a reality. Carriers started rolling out fixed 5G to select cities in 2018, and mobile 5G will start making appearances in cities around the U.S. in 2019, with much more comprehensive rollouts expected in 2020. 5G is expected to have a transformative effect on digital connectivity and power the rise of IoT devices, driverless cars, data transfer and the consumer tech of the future.
Initially launched in 1979 in Tokyo, by 1984 the first generation (1G) of the wireless standard was rolled out across the whole of Japan by the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone. In 1983, the US launched its first 1G network using the Motorola DynaTAC mobile phone, with other countries such as the UK and Canada following suit a few years later.
Commercially launched on the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) standard in Finland in 1991, 2G brought a wireless standard far superior from anything that the first generation had on offer. With significantly better wireless connections, 2G provided data services for mobile including SMS text messages and digitally encrypted conversations for the very first time.
First launched in May 2001 for pre-release testing, as with previous generations 3G was available in Japan first, in October 2001. Hutchison Whampoa, which owns the mobile network Three, launched in 2003 and provided one of the first 3G handsets.
The first-release Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard was commercially deployed in Oslo, Norway, and Stockholm, Sweden in 2009, and has since been deployed throughout most parts of the world. At the time of its launch, 4G network would offer speeds up to 12Mbps, five times faster than the previous generation.
Although 5G isn't a commercially available mobile network yet, it is pegged to be considerably faster than its predecessor 4G, and has potential to enable big data industries such as the internet of things and smart homes or cities. 5G is said to offer unlimited data quantities in gigabyte per month and user which could enable users to stream high volumes of high-definition media on their internet enabled device.
