Though a lot has been reported about the 5G network and about the speed that it may offer to the end consumers, the complete roll out of this telecom technology in India may take time.
“A complete roll out of a technology of this scale will take time. There are still consistency issues in India. Some people are still using 3G networks some have 4G while some have access to LTE networks in certain cities. Even the handsets Indian population use varies. When it comes to interacting or talking to each other there may be issues due to the inconsistencies in the network they have. This may take time to resolve,” observed V.C. Gopalratnam, SVP-IT and Chief Information Officer-International, Cisco.
During an interaction with THE WEEK, Gopalratnam pointed out that inconsistency issues related to telecom networks is very minimal in western countries and in the US where people have access to more or less the same kind of network or handsets unlike India. He said that speed will be the key differentiator of 5G networks and once rolled out, it will enable faster video viewing and downloads.
“Software defined networks have helped in the deployment of telecom networks faster. What used to take earlier say months to deploy can be done overnight. Though this has led to a reduction in the number of people managing a telecom network, at the same time it has also created new job roles in the telecom field that did not exist earlier. Cloud architecture specialists, security specialists, and customer experience specialists, among others will be in demand in the coming years and such roles will hold good even once the 5G network is rolled out. These days network and software engineers working in the telecom sector are working towards developing skill sets for such new job roles,” remarked Gopalratnman.
He added that despite the rolling out of the LTE or the 4G networks in India, there are certain spots even in a metro city where there are network black outs. This is not only in the case of mobile networks but also in Wi-Fi zones inside buildings too.
“It is part of a growing economy and the growing density of users. Cisco is constantly working towards enhancing the Wi-Fi networks in order to reduce redundancies and to strengthen the network. Data consumption will be the key game changer in the country with India becoming one of the largest data consumer in the world. Wi-Fi 6 and 5G will the future of the telecom networks. At the same time it is difficult to say what exact price point will 5G be offered to the end consumers by the telecom service providers,” added Gopalratnman.
