The world has turned into 5G, the fifth generation of cellular networks. And, 5G is up to 100 times faster than 4G, creating never-before-seen opportunities for people and businesses.
Faster connectivity speeds, ultra-low latency, and greater bandwidth are advancing societies, transforming industries, and dramatically enhancing the day-to-day experiences of the common people. With 5G technology, we can help create a smarter, safer, and more sustainable future.
Aligning with the global cellular transformation, people in Guwahati are 5G smart these days and have upgraded to 5G handsets and 5G cellular networks. But, the scenario on the ground is quite different.
In the name of 5G, telecom companies are providing 5G services to the subscribers in Guwahati. But in reality, the speed is just like what the 4G service provided, and sometimes people don’t get the data speed of 3G as well.
The 5G subscribers in Guwahati get to understand the difference in the speed when they visit Bengaluru, Hyderabad, or New Delhi. The 5G network in the metro cities is much faster than the 5G service, which is on offer in Guwahati.
While subscribers are supposed to get at least 15 MBPS on a 4G network, some people have to say that they get a data speed of 4MBPS even after upgrading to a 5G network.
A source in the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) talking to G Plus said, “The private telecom companies might be claiming that they are providing 4G or 5G services but you should ask them what the actual speed is?”
The BSNL official said they do not claim to offer 4G or 5G services in Guwahati. But even the 3G services of BSNL can easily compete with the available 4G or 5G services of the private companies in the city.
“At present BSNL has 542 mobile towers in Guwahati. And we are proud to claim that all the BSNL towers upgraded to provide 3G voice and data services and with a speed of around 21 MBPS,” the official said, adding that the speed of the government network is still the best in Guwahati.
The BSNL official questioned, “Can you tell us what speed the private operators are giving for 4G or even 5G voice and data transmission?”
BSNL will officially launch 4G services in the next three to four months or after reaching 20,000 base transceiver stations (BTS), a source in the BSNL said. A BTS is a fixed radio transceiver in any mobile network, most often in the form of a tower.
Talking about 5G, the source said that there are only two private players – Airtel and Jio which are claiming to provide 5G services in the northeast, but he doubted if the operators are providing actual 5G speed.
5G can be significantly faster than 4G, delivering up to 20 Gigabits-per-second (Gbps) peak data rates and 100+ Megabits-per-second (Mbps) average data rates, said the source. And 5G has more capacity than 4G.
The 5G is designed to support a 100x increase in traffic capacity and network efficiency, he said, adding that if the infrastructure is upgraded accordingly. He doubted if the consumers were getting the exact speed as promised by the operators.
A resident of Fancy Bazar, Drishti Swamy talking to GPlus said “I have a 5G connection which I can only see as working when I am in Fancy Bazar. My office is in Ulubari and there it always shows 4G,” adding that even when the phone displays 5G, there is not much difference between 4G and 5G.
A resident of Basistha who has a 5G connection talking to GPlus said, “I don’t get 5G in hilly areas like Kharguli and Bhangagarh hilltop,” adding that he finds no difference between 4G and 5G services. Similar views were echoed by many 5G consumers across the city.
NR FDD and LTE FDD are two different technologies used for 5G and 4G mobile networks, respectively. They both use frequency division duplex (FDD) as a spectrum usage technique, which means that they use different frequency bands for uplink and downlink transmissions.
An industry expert and an employee of a private operator providing 5G service talking to GPlus on condition of anonymity said, “Telecom companies are not erecting more towers therefore people are not getting full coverage.”
The source said that a well-known telecom company has around 350 towers in Guwahati, out of which 250 sites are NR FDD and 100 sites are LTE FDD.
To upgrade all the sites to 5G, all the towers should be upgraded to NR FDD, but again this will reduce the coverage, and an extra 100 to 150 towers will have to be installed.
He said that to upgrade the speed more towers have to be installed, which is not happening.
So, when people should at least get 15 MBPS in 4G, they are getting 4MBPS.
Talking about 5G, it has a speed of 10 times what 4G provides. For that, the infrastructure has to be hugely developed.
“If people receive proper 4G speed they will not require 5G,” the source said, adding that 5G is another gimmick if the infrastructure is not developed by the telecom companies, especially in the northeast.
He said that the telecom companies are upgrading the infrastructure but meanwhile, the numbers of consumers are also increasing.
When a particular broadband is connected in an office, the fewer computers it is connected to, the better the speed is, said the expert, adding that the more computers, the lesser the speed. “The same happens with 4G or 5G services,” said the expert, stressing that to get full speed more towers and better infrastructure are required.
A source in a telecom company talking to G Plus said, “There is no place to erect new towers in Guwahati.” He said that people have a notion that because of the radiation of the tower people’s health gets affected and plantations of trees and other plants also get affected.”
The source said that technically one tower has a capacity of 4TRX, which can provide uninterrupted services to around 60 customers when they are simultaneously talking over the phone. If the number exceeds then there is a problem in the call traffic and there is congestion which is a cause of call drop and slow data speed.
The source said that along with towers there are interconnect points which are important for better connectivity as when a user of one network calls the user of another network, there is a connect point which is known as an interconnect point.
The source said the telecom companies do not provide information about the capacity of the interconnect points and they keep claiming that they have enough points installed.
According to a senior official in BSNL, in all telecom towers which is known as the base transmission station (BTS), the 3G service can be provided to a range of around 500 metres, and once the user crosses the range, the 3G connection automatically converts into 2G and the user is unaware about it.
The BSNL official said the concept is the same with all telecom companies, and once the user is out of the 3G or 3G range and trying to get speedy internet service and also receives or makes calls, there is a chance of call drops and slow data.
The BSNL official claims they have the best connectivity and their customers do not face the problem of call drop or slow data speed. He also said that the more towers the better the service, but it remains a concern for the telecom companies that they are not getting a place to erect towers and claiming that they are providing high-speed 3G and 4G.
The Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi launched the 5G service at the 6th Edition of India Mobile Congress 2022, held from October 1-4 that year, at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi.
The service was expected to change the telecom scenario of India and especially the mobile phone utilisation scenario, but the speed seems like it is the same but just the tariff is increasing.
As equality is the basic foundation of the Constitution of India, mobile service providers also should remember to offer the same quality of services to subscribers across the country.
