The U in 5G – coz the keyword is use-case

Building a secure and resilient 5G Infrastructure – why, how and by when?

By Pratima Harigunani

A panel discussion at the Voice&Data 5G Conference on ‘Building a secure and resilient 5G Infrastructure’ talked about many significant aspects of the infrastructure that is critical for rolling out 5G services in India. The first question was the most poignant, uncomfortable, and important one. Moderator Sunil Rajguru, Editor, PCQuest, and CIOL argued how 5G is a capital-intensive proposition that can be a logistics challenge when we think of a nation-wide 5G grid, especially in the era following COVID-19.

“5G deployment at the network level would be gradual. On the operator side, it will be purely based on ROI. 5G will start from cities and slowly reach the rural areas.”

Dr Rajkumar Upadhyay, Executive Director, C-DoT

Considering the cost and complexity of 5G, especially in India, the important aspect is – how will it affect an average user and the industry at large.

Yes, 5G infrastructure requires a monumental shift. “There are some tectonic shifts in terms of IT and cloud. Considering the cost and complexity of 5G, especially in India, the important aspect is – how will it affect an average user and the industry at large. Unless use cases of 5G mature, the commercial case around the huge expansion of 5G may not make much sense.”

5G will start coming in pockets, he surmised. “Perhaps slowly and steadily, a little later, it will spread much faster. Remote surgery, drones, self-driving vehicles, etc. – some of these can be adopted by India in near future but many use-cases will take a long time.”

What can people do with 5G beyond what is being done with 4G, is what we need to confront, seconded Harsha Ram, Network Business Unit, Sify Technologies Ltd? “In India people are still trying to figure that out. It is not just a connectivity issue. It is a larger issue and a transformation aspect. It will not be an easy and overnight shift. It can stretch out for a period of time. In India, 2G networks are still running. So 5G will not be a big step but more of an evolutionary journey.”

“We see the whole nine yards of architecture for 5G. We will have a large number of base stations, small cells for very low latency and very high throughput.”

Gulshan Khurana, EVP – Transmission & Core Planning – Technology,

Vodafone Idea Ltd

This evolution from 2G to 3G to 4G has been more about the band-width but 5G would be about industry level advancements, added Gulshan Khurana, EVP – Transmission and Core Planning – Technology, Vodafone Idea Ltd. “We see the whole nine yards of architecture for 5G. We will have a large number of base stations, small cells for very low latency and very high throughput. To add to this, we would have a strong back-haul, a lot of slicing, cloud-native core applications, and a lot more. So 5G is bringing evolution to every aspect of the ecosystem. All this will take time for us to completely mature, even though trials are already being done.”

“What can people do with 5G beyond what is being done with 4G, is what we need to confront. In India people are still trying to figure that out.”

Harsha Ram, Network Business Unit, Sify Technologies Ltd

“5G is a capital-intensive proposition which can be a logistics challenge when we think of a nation-wide 5G grid, especially in the era following COVID-19.”

Sunil Rajguru, Editor, PCQuest & CIOL

Dr. Rajkumar Upadhyay, ED, C-DoT said that while 5G will need spectrum, it will need ways to be deployed with new transmission infrastructure, small cell set-ups, fibreisation, etc. “For all of this, a lot of money needs to be spent. So, deployment, in my opinion, at the network level would be gradual. On the operator side, it will be purely based on ROI. It is heartening to see that 4G penetration in India is good. 5G, too, will start from cities and slowly reach the rural areas.”

The panel also touched upon issues of data privacy, data localization, and security. For this concern, a number of arguments and suggestions emerged. Like how distributed, software-defined digital routing, a very high level of automation, a stack running on a cloud, edge systems, and other such novelties could further create challenges. That scenario opens up a new can of vulnerabilities that get lifted and shifted in a 5G environment. To have a robust IT infrastructure, solid firewalls with strict access controls would be a key step here, along with high-quality encryption standards. This will need a whole of heavy-lifting and a built-in approach to security. Enforcement of data protection regulation and having our own core infrastructure would also become important.

The cost of spectrum, the investment, and digital democratization are some issues we will grapple with and get better on – with time, the experts assured. Some experts even suggested that we can take a leap ahead towards 6G and 7G. Finally, the socio-economic impact on India was also addressed – especially at a ground level. The panel explained that education, healthcare, smart cities, manufacturing with Industry 4.0, global competitiveness, among other things will see an increased role of 5G.

When does the investment go in and how soon do the use-cases develop, This is all that we need to work on now. The sooner the better and with a strong “U” there.

pratimah@cybermedia.co.in