ISLAMABAD: Following the earlier claim of IT Minister Anusha Rehman in July 2016 that Pakistan would be among the early adopters of 5G technology, Minister for Planning, Development, and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal has also claimed that the government was planning to launch ‘5th Generation’ cellular services “soon” for faster connectivity.

However, analysts rejected the minister’s claim and said that it was impossible to launch 5G in the country as it was not available anywhere in the world yet.

China, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom have all set targets of 2020 for the launch of 5G services ─ a deadline which several experts term “ambitious”.

The claim came as a shock since parts of the country do not have access even to 3G services. Also, no concrete efforts have been made for the availability of 3G yet.

When asked if the telecom sector or his company, in particular, had made any preparations to introduce 5G technology in Pakistan, Mobilink spokesman Omar Manzoor said 5G was a very new concept to the telecom sector, and that there was an appetite for new technology in the country.

Technology analyst Salim Karim was of the opinion that Zong is interested in 5G technology and its parent company in China has made some developments in this regard, but it is unclear what these developments may be.

What is 5G?

Although specialists are still undecided on what exactly 5G means, it is certain the technology will be a game-changer, enabling users to download large amounts of data within seconds.

5G speeds are expected to be one thousand times faster than current LTE data transfer speeds. China has even tested a prototype in this regard, with data transfer speeds of 3.5Gbps.

Furthermore, 5G services will be operating on a millimetre wave base.