Some of you may already know that now cellular network technology has reached the 5th generation or what is known as 5G. This network technology is also said to be able to deliver data speeds 20 times faster than the previous generation, namely 4G.
Several countries in North America, Europe and East Asia are already deploying 5G technology commercially. Indonesia itself has now tested the 5G network several times. In fact, the Ministry of Communication and Information at the end of 2020 confirmed that would be ready to adopt 5G technology in 2021.
However, before discussing 5G, it’s a good idea to get to know the journey of cellular network technology ranging from 1G, 2G, 3G, 4G, to 5G. Oh yeah, talking about the network technology mentioned earlier, do you know what the letter G stands for in 1G, 2G, 3G, 4G, or 5G?
For those of you who don’t know, the letter G refers to the word “Generation”. Each generation has certain network standards that are adapted to the standards of the telephone network and cellular telephone system at that time. Instead of lingering, let’s just take a look at the following brief review!
Also Read: Need We Say More? 5G is The Game-Changer
1G
As the name implies, 1G is the first generation of mobile phone technology. This network technology was first launched by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone in 1979. Only later in 1984, 1G technology covered the entire territory of Japan and made it the first country to have a national 1G network.
Technically, 1G operates using an analog system commonly known as AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone Service), which only has a maximum speed of 2.4 Kbps. 1G can only be used to make phone calls, and even then with poor quality, wasteful of battery, and not encrypted. So, conversations can be tapped using a radio scanner.
In Indonesia, 1G technology was first introduced in 1984. At that time, PT Telkom together with PT Rajasa Hazanah mighty provided cellular communication services using NMT (Nordic Mobile Telephone) technology using a frequency of 450 MHz.
2G
This second generation cellular network technology is arguably the beginning of the birth of digital technology. If 1G uses an analog network, then 2G uses a digital network. 2G was first launched commercially in Finland by Radiolinja in 1991 by implementing GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) technology based on TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) technology.
The presence of 2G at that time presented a new experience in communicating. If 1G can only make phone calls, then in 2G there are several new features, including exchanging text messages (SMS), picture messages (MMS), and clearer voice calls. In fact, in its development, 2G later evolved into 2.5G with GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) and 2.75G with EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution), where the maximum speed reached 473 Kbps.
3G
This 2G successor technology was first launched in 2001 by the Japanese operator NTT DoCoMo. 3G was present as a solution to the increasing internet needs at that time using the UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) standard. This technology is able to deliver data speeds that are faster than the previous generation with speeds up to 2 Mbps.
With the presence of 3G, people around the world can enjoy various kinds of internet services, such as browsing, sending email, streaming video and music, sharing data, and teleconferencing. The 3G era also became the era of the birth of smartphones with two big names at that time, namely Blackberry and Apple.
4G
The need for internet services using 3G network technology is considered insufficient. Therefore, in order to make the use of internet services more comfortable, 4G technology was born. This technology was first launched commercially in Stockholm, Sweden and Oslo, Norway in 2009 using the LTE (Long Term Evolution) standard based on OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) technology.
The 4G era can be regarded as the birth of the creative content industry. With LTE speeds of up to 100 Mbps at launch and evolving to LTE-Advanced which can reach speeds of 1 Gbps, 4G offers the ability to stream HD video, lag-free online gaming, and shorter upload and download times. Not only that, 4G also makes the communication process smoother with video conferencing, and gives rise to more digital startups.
5G
5G was born as an answer to the need for connection to a higher stage in the next few years. Therefore, a number of companies with mobile ecosystems are currently contributing and working to make 5G can be enjoyed by people around the world. 5G is now commercially launched in several countries, such as South Korea, the United States, Japan, China, Turkey, and several countries in Europe.
As with the successor network technology, 5G is certain to have more sophisticated capabilities than 4G, including theoretically it can achieve data rates up to 20 times faster (20 Gbps), 10 times lower latency (1ms), and 10 times the connection density. more than 4G (1 million devices/km2), so its use is not only for the fulfillment of mobile broadband services for consumers, but also for Industry 4.0.
There are several examples of use cases for consumers, such as enhanced Mobile Broadband, Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and cloud gaming. Then a number of examples of use cases for industry/B2B, including AR/VR for maintenance industry, smart surveillance, smart factory, remote controlling machinery, remote surgery, drone surveillance, smart seaport, and many more.
