What actually is ‘5G’?

5G stands for ‘fifth generation’ (of mobile communications networks). 5G is rumoured to be 10-100 times faster than the current 4G networks that we use on our phones to browse the internet and watch online videos. Such a huge increase in speed is expected to lead to being able to load 4K videos on your phone, as well as paving the way for a potentially unlimited number of technological advancements such as automated cars.

While 4G works on the frequency spectrum ranging from 2–6Ghz, 5G
will work on the frequency spectrum of 30–300 GHz, creating much faster speeds for a much high number of devices.

Is 5G safe?

From a health perspective, the long-term effects of constantly being exposed to such forms of radiation is unknown, but many consider such low frequencies to have little to no effect on the body.

From the perspective of a government, however, such huge amounts of data could lead to data leakages, spying, and a bunch of other problems. Which is why the USA and a bunch of other countries are outlawing HUAWEI 5G over concerns that the Chinese government could force the third largest mobile phone company to hand over sensitive data.

When is it Coming and Will it Work?

Japan is considered to be one of the first countries to implement 5G technology on a country-wide basis. The country hopes to have implemented most of the systems by 2019 – just in time for the Olympic games, which would allow many people to watch the events in 4k (incredibly high-definition) TV.

Changing from 4G to 5G is no simple task. 5G runs on much higher frequencies than 4G, which means it is harder for 5G signals to pass through buildings. This means large upgrades to the current 4G structure will be required to provide a stable service for the whole country. Not only this, but the government is urging communication companies not to use Chinese equipment when rolling out the service. SoftBank, one of Japan’s top three phone companies currently has around 1/3 of it’s 4G network running on HUAWEI equipment.