A couple of months ago, in the midst of the lockdown, several EU countries were confronted with a series of strange degradations. The victims? 5G antennas, suspected of propagating the coronavirus.
Far from only fascinating some bored plot-lovers, 5G has been arousing passions for some time now. As it becomes yet another topic of quarrel between the US and China, it is also starting to be the favorite subject of journalists interviewing ecologist politicians, as it gives them the perfect opportunity for the very question they are dying to ask – are you arguing for degrowth?
So what is 5G exactly? Is it a digital revolution that will allow us to live better (connected) lives? Or is it just a convenient tool to watch pornography in elevators? And most of all, what does it mean for our planet?
In this week’s episode – There must be something good about 5G, or else why would the EU be racing to set it up?
The first thing to know about 5G is that it’s fast. Very fast. The 5G network will be minimum 10 times faster as is the 4G we know today. The latency, that is to say the time it takes data to travel from one point to another, should be at 4 milliseconds in ideal circumstances, and at 1 millisecond for use cases that demand the utmost speed. It is called “near real-time responsiveness”. This is what will allow us to download the entire Beatles discography while waiting for the bus.
5G is also highly energy efficient. Radio interfaces drop into low-energy mode when not in use. 5G is also celebrated for its spectral efficiency, which means in layman English that the maximum amount of data can be transmitted with the fewest transmission errors.
5G is – guess what – connected. Thanks to its spectral efficiency and the use of wider spectrum bands, the 5G should be able to support many more connected devices than 4G, with less errors and without being overloaded. The standard states that 5G should be able to support 1 million connected devices per square kilometer. It is the keystone to the development of the Internet of Things, meaning that it will allow for driverless cars and automatic toasters.
5G also allows for network slicing, which is not a new kind of cooking, but a technology that dedicates a part of the network to a particular purpose. For example, an automobile firm could own a part of the network and be the only one to use it. It has two advantages : first, this network slice is adapted to firm-specific requirements, and second, there is no risk of overload or lag due to too many users.
Finally, far from spreading the coronavirus, 5G comes with active antennas. This means that they are able to focus the signal emission to the device that requires access to the network, therefore being much more efficient.
To conclude, it is indisputable that 5G is a technological revolution, which will allow for the connected cities we’ve all seen in sci-fi movies. Yet, besides questioning our real need for this kind of technology, it also brings about major risks that are clearly overlooked by its advocates.
To know which ones, stay tuned for episode 3 of our short series!
Written by: Mathis Fidaire, Misty Monteville and Pauline Pasquier
