South African Country Life – September 2019

do so. These are the ‘spectrum requirements’
you see in the news. In each country these
frequencies are either used by something else
or need to have regulations passed to allow
them to be used.
South Africa needs to allocate the
frequencies for 5G, which is due in 2020,
but also to allocate more for the current 3/4G
networks. The government has not had a good
track record in meeting the agreed deadlines,
and this remains a hurdle for when the new
networks may become available. Networks like
Vodacom have said that, with the additional
spectrum,wecouldseedatapriceshalve,
whichwouldbringSouthAfrica’sdatacosts
in linewithothercountries,andboostthe
internet-driveneconomy.
Datahasbeentherealdriverformorespeed
andspectrum.Fromeffectivelyusingnothing
20 yearsago,youcouldsaywenowuse
nothingelse.Youmightstillcallandreceive
SMSnotifications,butmostofthetimeyou
spendlookingat yourmobilephoneit is the
dataconnectionthat’sbeingused.Services
likeWhatsApphavenotonlymadeSMSes
formessagingobsolete,youcannowalso
call,sendvoicemessages,photos,videos
andevenvideocalls.
Legacyis theonlyreasonwhyweuse
thename‘phone’because,consideringhow
weuseit,the‘phone’is eithera cameraor
a mobilecomputer.Asillustration,I’mwriting
thisarticleonmy‘phone’whilesittingon
a beachona Greekisland.
5Gneedsthatnewspectrumto effectively
createa datanetworkratherthana phone
network.Thetowersaresmallerandless
intrusive,andhavea lowerpowerthatcould
makegettingpermissionto installthemeasier.
Butbecauseofthistheywillneedto becloser
togetherandsotherewillbemoreofthem,
andthepresenceofthesetowersis likelyto
resemblea prevalenceofsurveillancecameras.
Small,unobtrusivebuteverywhere.
Whilethereis littleneed,oreven
opportunity,to stop5Gbecomingthenorm,
weshouldbemindfulof,andperhapseven
challenge,whatit willallow.Therearea range
ofcompaniesthatmanufacturethehardware
to enablethenew5Gnetworks,withthelikes
ofNokia(rememberthem)oneofthefirstto
demonstratethepotential.
However,thedominantsupplierofnetwork

equipment,certainlyforSouthAfrican

networks,is Huawei.Theproductsandprice

areexcellent,buttheconcernis moreonwhat

suchdependencemightmean,givenChina's

approachto privacyanda willingnessto

regulateaccess.

Thereis notenoughevidenceto provethat

ChinacanuseHuaweiproductsforintercepting

privatecommunications,assomecountries

liketheUSsuspect,butit doesnotmeanthat

intelligenceagenciesincludingourownwon’t

perhapsbetemptedto try.

Spyingaside,theopportunityto track

youwouldnotevenrequirecovertaccessto

networkhardware.CCTVcamerasandyour

GPSlocationsoftwarecantrackandfindyou

anywhere.Facialrecognitiondoesnotneedto

knowwhoyouareto followyou.Onepublic

postwitha pictureona socialnetworkand

youarea markedperson.

China'swillingnessandabilityto dothis

couldseeit beingofferedasa solutionfor

crimein SouthAfrica,butit willdomore

thanidentifythosewhodowrong,andgive

authoritiesandsomecompaniesaccessto know

whatyouaredoingandwhere,allthetime.The

benefitsoutweighthedownside,butweshould

notbelievethereis norealriskto privacyand

thepotentialforabuse.

Aninformedchoicecanavoidmostof

thepitfallsofthefirstissue,whilethesecond

mightbemoredifficultto avoid.Thisnew

networkcouldreplacethecurrentmobile

networksand,forhomeandpersonaluse,

5G antennae operateovera shorterrangetoreducedelaysandimprovethequalityoftheconnection.It means

we will need many moreantennae.Findinglocationsandpermissioncouldprovetrickyand,whilethereareno

known health issues,wedon’tknowitslong-termimpact.Theirsmallersizeshouldmakethemeasiertoblendinto

the urban environment,butkeepingthemallworkingandpoweredwillbea significantundertaking.Timewilltell.

becometheonlynetwork.Autonomouscars

andotherInternet-enableddeviceswillmigrate

andusethisnetwork,butshouldsomething

causethenetworkto failit wouldleavemost

ofushighanddry.

Thismakesit a targetforthosewantingto

doharm.Noteasyto do,becausethenetwork

is sodistributed,butthatdoesn’tmeansome

peoplewon’ttry.A furtherimplicationofthe

muchbroaderdistributionandfrequencies

usedcouldaffecttheaccuracyofweather

forecasting.5Gwon'taffecttheweather

directly,butourcurrentmethodofmeasuring

atmosphericwatervapourfromweather

satellitesmeasuresthesignalin thesame

rangeas5G,whichwillcreateinterference.

A solutionis stillbeingworkedonto limit

theimpact.

Accessto theimprovednetworkwill

alsotaketimeandberolledoutin most

economicallyactiveareasfirst,butthisis likely

to sustain,if notwiden,thetechnologygap

betweenrichandpoor.Andit’ssomethingthat

shouldbetakenintoaccountin SouthAfrica.

Likeallnewtechnology,thepotential

benefitsmightobscurethepotentialrisks

initiallyand,astheytendto besocomplex,

fewofusactuallyunderstandtheprosand

cons.Hopefullyyoucanappreciatea little

moreabouttheremarkableopportunities

5Gpresentsbutalsotheimplications.

Technology,likealltools,is neithergood

norbad,it dependsentirelyonhowwe

chooseto useit. ■

5G canhandletentimesthe currentcapacitybutit

needsnewtransmissionfrequenciestodoso

http://www.countrylife.co.za 089

FUTURE WATCH

September 2019