By the end of 2015, the bandwidth auctions of 1800 MHz and 900 MHz spectrum, held by National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) have made 4G network a huge impact to Thai society.
Not only more affordable price of internet accessibility for Thai users, the 4G network has also unexpectedly created a new business economy including the rapid growth of e-commerce such as Alibaba, Lazada and more, mobile financial transaction, a shift of cashless society, from credit and debit card to QR code technology, as well as online media industry.
All those changes brought about more convenience that the business and people must be alert to this transformation in past few years.
The fourth generation wireless network (4G) has already been here and made a huge impact, how the Thai society will be due to the upcoming fifth generation network (5G). Everyone thus should learn and understand technology.
Theoretically, 5G is the coming fifth-generation wireless broadband technology. It will provide better speeds and coverage than the current 4G.
GSMA Association has defined 5G network speed at 1-10 Gigabits per second (Gbps) and not over 1 millisecond (ms) latency or a thousandth of a second. Comparing to existing mobile internet speed in Thailand, which is average 10 Megabits per second (Mbps) and 30 millisecond latency, 5G will be 30-100 times faster than the current network.
The momentum of this change is not just a faster speed of internet on mobile phone, or faster speed of video download or share on YouTube, but a great deal of impact due to better speed and efficiency will enable the 5G devices not only limited to smartphone, but any connected devices that will be no longer under human control.
There are three major categories of 5G usage models
1.Connected cars or autonomous vehicles
Autonomous vehicles will lead to intelligent transportation system eliminating traffic congestion in big cities in Thailand.
2.Internet of Things (IoT)
Chips or sensors embedded in the devices enable them to communicate in a large scale as 5G technology can support multiple connected devices. Home appliances, consumer electronic and remote control can automatically communicate with each other, making smart home. A use of augmented reality and virtual reality will be no longer difficult.
3.Remote Control
Remote controlled machines used in manufacturing or healthcare. Not only remote diagnosis, but physicians can also do remote surgery, or telemedicine.
The topic of 5G has been discussed for a while in Thailand and other countries globally, but has not any deployment.
However, some countries have a 5G roadmap, and some have a 5G trial run such as South Korea, Japan and China. Both Japan and South Korea have a roadmap to officially provide 5G services by 2020 and some companies including Huawei and Ericsson have also run a trail service of 5G as well.
Over next few years therefore will see surgeons provide consulting surgery remotely through high resolution clip by which a doctor performs surgery on a patient in the rural hospital in realtime as it’s expected that a 7.5 GB high definition video file can be run within 1 second and with technology evolution in the future, it can run hologram display.
For Thailand, NBTC has been enthusiastic about 5G technology for a while. Even though there is not fully 5G operation yet in these couple years, the 5G will eventually be coming, or sooner than it’s expected.
At this stage, it should have available frequency without auction so that Thai people can use 5G at a low cost and most importantly, 5G enabled devices must be complied with the global standard -ITU (International Telecommunication Union).
It is expected that 5G technology will change Thailand and bring a better quality of life for Thai people in every aspect.
5G frequency has already been prepared by NBTC, just waiting for devices and services support to be made by the industry and business sector.
It will be another chapter of Thailand towards 5G.
NBTC, in collaborationwith Huawei, Ericsson, Qualcomm and Matichon, will organize “5G Moving Thailand in the Changing World” on Friday 23 at Pullman Bangkok King Power Hotel.
อ่านข่าว 5Gกำลังมา ไทยเตรียมตัว เปลี่ยนโฉมอีก
