5G: Gaining Ground
When was the last time you muttered inanities, swore under your breadth, thumped the desk or sometimes even felt like hurling your smartphone out of the window when the website you wanted to open, the files you wanted to upload, or the videos you wanted to download for viewing got stuck because of inadequate speed? Most certainly, not in recent weeks, at least.
Reason: Since the launch of the 5G service in October last year, the Internet has looked like running on steroids in at least 280 cities and towns across a dozen states. With the ultra-fast 5G service, it barely takes seconds to upload and download all sort of files. And there are no extra charges for the service now.
Tariffs may change going forward. But for now, the telecom service providers (TSPs), specially Reliance Jio Infocomm and Airtel, are scrambling to deploy the 5G services across towns and cities. Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel intend to rollout the 5G service across the country this year.
Jio has rolled out Jio True 5G service in as many as 257 cities. "Jio users in these cities will be invited to the Jio Welcome Offer, to experience Unlimited Data at up to 1 Gbps+ speeds, at no additional cost," the company said.
The second biggest player, Bharti Airtel on February 15 announced the launch of its cutting-edge 5G service, Airtel 5G Plus, in the north-eastern cities of Kohima, Dimapur, Aizawl, Gangtok, Silchar, Dibrugarh & Tinsukia. The service is already live in Guwahati, Shillong, Imphal, Agartala and Itanagar.
"From India’s first live 5G network in Hyderabad to India’s first private 5G network at the Bosch facility in Bengaluru to partnering with Mahindra & Mahindra to make its Chakan manufacturing facility India’s first 5G enabled auto manufacturing unit, Airtel has been at the forefront of 5G innovation," the company said, adding that its 5G service will offer massive speeds, best voice experience where no SIM change is needed. Existing Airtel 4G SIM is 5G enabled and existing data plans will work on 5G until rollout is complete.
Network Function Virtualisation (NFV)
The 5G service deployment entails technology changes at the network level. One such instance is the Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV), which is a way to virtualise network services that have traditionally been run on proprietary hardware. Simply put, NFV helps in reducing operational expenditure and capital expenditure of the telecom service providers. Secondly, with NFV, network scalability becomes easier and more convenient for the telcos.
Recently, the department of telecommunications (DoT) proposed setting up security standards around NFV. What is it? And how is it beneficial? Explains Parv Sharma, Senior Analyst, Devices and Ecosystems, Counterpoint Research: "The security standardisation from DoT is an important move as multiple players like telecom service providers, cloud providers, original equipment manufacturers and orchestrators have to work together to enable services. As TSPs move from proprietary hardware to virtualised machines running network functions, the attack surface increases."
"We need massive investments in 5G infrastructure. Our tower presence, fibre networks, and other elements are still on lower scale. Virtualisation of networks will help us expedite the infrastructure rollout in a cost-effective way. Also, as the demand surges, we can scale up almost in real time. So, from an Indian context, NFV could become a great enabler in creating an optimal 5G experience in the country," says Faisal Kawoosa, Chief Analyst, TechArc, a newage technology market research firm that tracks the telecom sector.
Are the security standards for NFV country-specific or are there international security standards in place for NFV? "By and large, the standards address same concerns, however countries may tweak a few to match their specific needs," says Kawoosa.
Agrees Sharma from Counterpoint Research. Standards are set to form an agreed base for security throughout mobile networks. However, for different contexts and regions, different security requirements enforce guidelines to maintain a healthy ecosystem, he says.
"For NFV and related technologies, standards from multiple bodies were taken as a reference, such as 3GPP, ITU-T, ISO, and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), and then comprehensive country-specific security requirement was drafted by Indian Telecommunication Security Assurance Requirements (ITSAR). Another such body is the UK Telecom Security Requirements (TSR) for the United Kingdom," explains Sharma.
Which other countries with active 5G network uses NFV? Experts say several operators from developed economies have moved a part of their network operations to virtualised machines. The US currently leads in this with nations from the APAC region – China, Japan and South Korea -- closely following and implementing the innovations. Germany, France, the UK and Belgium have numerous active members of the ETSI.
Why is 5G Free Now?
As mentioned earlier, the 5G services are currently being offered at "no extra cost" by all service providers. This, when the operators have spent big money on acquiring and deploying the 5G services. Is there hesitancy among the TSPs on charging a premium for 5G? "Right now, we are at an early commercial stage, therefore it is a good move to enable more users to experience 5G. At this stage we need to have minimum barriers to entry for consumers," says Kawoosa, adding, "If we have a tariff plan for 5G, consumers will start comparing the cost-benefit with 4G, which might not be substantial at the moment. There is not a single use case that has been enabled by 5G for consumers, so far. So, why should they pay for 5G services?"
Sharma says the average revenue per user or ARPU plays a significant role in the telecom sector. Operators will start to increase the ARPU for 5G specific plans once they reach a significant coverage and user base.
What about the quality of service currently offered via the 5G services? According to Kawoosa, the 5G service is still patchy and does not offer a homogenous experience across the cities and localities within cities. "But, it’s getting better literally every hour. I think in the next 2-3 months, we should see a different 5G experience in the country," says Kawoosa. Sharma expands on the difference in services offered by the current operators. "5G is in an early state of rollout and operators have been also deploying Non Standalone (NSA by Airtel) versus Standalone by Jio so performance is also different," adds Sharma.
What is NSA and SA? Airtel opted for 5G NSA, while Jio has opted for 5G Standalone (SA). The NSA mode supports networks on the already existing core of 4G. Also, NSA 5G enables telcos to roll out 5G at a lower cost relative to SA 5G that has a separate core and radio network. Jio is rolling out a 5G SA network, and had bought 5G spectrum across 700 MHz, 3500 MHz, and 26 GHz bands. SA 5G architecture is considered more advanced with zero dependency on 4G network. It offers powerful functionalities like low latency, massive machine to machine communication, 5G voice, Edge computing and network slicing, say experts.
BTS & Regulatory Scenario
The 5G service will require own set of base transceiver stations or BTS. A BTS is a piece of equipment that facilitates wireless communication between user equipment and a network. In October last year Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw asked telecom companies to install at least 10,000 5G BTS every week. While that number has been difficult to achieve, currently, there are 66,592 BTS deployed for 5G services. In December, this number was around 21,000. Since then, there has been a three-fold increase in BTS deployment, the data shows.
Going forward, the TSPs will have to adhere to the changing regulatory scenario with respect to the 5G services. While the DoT has sought comments and suggestions for the proposed security standards for NFV, a key aspect with direct bearing on opex and capex, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India is expected to recommend Quality of Service (QoS) norms with respect to 5G services and 4G services. The telecom authorities are clear that TSPs will have to maintain the set QoS standards particularly in the rural and semi-urban areas. "The QoS for existing 2G, 3G and 4G services should not get impacted in any way, the minister is very clear on this matter," a senior official said. Meanwhile, the 5G services continue to roll out across the country. For the sector, it also means creation of additional jobs and job opportunities for the skilled workforce.
ashish.sinha@businessworld.in
