The 5G party and the half-truths
Trump's controversy with 5G, China and Huawei has passed away. The technology that had come from the Asian giant to gossip about everything we do and control us no longer seems so dangerous. Trump is gambling his future in the United States Presidency and is not up for digital battles. The pandemic has postponed the debate on what is behind 5G, but has not stopped its implementation.
5G technology was not planned until 2021-2023. That was the initial forecast of the 'tech' around the world. In Spain, it was also expected for that triennium because the 700Mhz band had to be freed from DTT channels and then the spectrum would be auctioned. The channels have already disappeared from many televisions and have forced users to re-tune. The auction will arrive in the first quarter of 2021 and by next summer we will be able to glimpse the reality of this technology which, in the medium term, can change our lives as much as the coronavirus has, but for the better.
Vodafone has already been advertising its 5G network for months. Telefónica assures that it has this network deployed throughout Spain. Samsung put its Galaxy S20 with 5G on sale in January 2020. Apple has shortened the deadlines and the new iPhone 12 also has a modem compatible with the fifth generation of mobile networks. All this is pure marketing.
Advertising with a lot of window dressing to get there first and hit it harder. Vodafone is a specialist in playing with this double intention. It already did so in 2011 with the 4G. It announced its arrival in the central areas of Spain's main capitals and managed to get users to associate this innovation with the British company.
Movistar and Orange saw the market launch of Vodafone's 5G precipitated. Now all the companies have had to do the same to serve the very expensive terminals that claim to have 5G without asking if there is coverage. The trick is to reuse 4G networks by modifying the software. The infrastructure does not allow the true potential of 5G to be reached, but users are reassured because a 5 and a G appear on their mobiles. The hoax of believing that your mobile flies when the only thing that flies is battery consumption. Connecting to 4G and 5G depending on the coverage is a torture for the mobiles.
It took three years for 4G to provide coverage to 85% of Spain. The squirrel that could cross the peninsula from tree to tree is already doing so from antenna to antenna. The landscape has changed. The tree of the 5G does not let us see the forest of what really awaits us with such a fast data network.
The user who now does not buy a mobile phone if he does not have 5G should know that he will be given a technological placebo. The real potential has not yet arrived and when it does, it will be for the Internet of Things. In the super-connection of all the devices we have at home. What we read, see or hear on mobile phones is hardly going to improve because that content has already been adapted to small screens.
The fourth industrial revolution arrives in Spain at the worst economic moment. Technology companies will have to invest 5 billion euros over the next few years to ensure good coverage when 3G goes out and 5G is in greatest demand. This expenditure also depends on public money and the PSOE government does not have the best companies to receive the aid from Europe.
The mobiles that offer 5G will no longer be in users' pockets when it is worthwhile accessing that network. Jumping on the bandwagon of this technology will be a good and cheap vaccine against the coronavirus. It will re-launch many companies if they decide to go for data speed in online sales. The 5G is coming, but it hasn't arrived.
