For one reason or another, 5G has been in the spotlight all throughout 2020. Some of it is to do with security aspects, such as the US's on and off ban of Huawei and its 5G products and services. Recently, the UK has followed suit in banning the further purchase of Huawei 5G equipment and has vowed to completely replace existing Huawei tech in the nation's 5G infrastructure by 2027. Then there are the absurd stories, like the one regarding 5G signals and equipment being responsible for the Coronavirus pandemic, a theory that gained some ground in the UK and the US and led to several 5G towers being torched. Here in India, 5G has been a hot topic in the public forum due to Reliance Jio announcing India's first 5G network, which Mukesh Ambani has emphasised as being 'entirely made in India.' The actual launch of the service is some ways off with the India tests of the service being scheduled for the next year. The Indian market has had 5G ready phones for a while now but no network. Elsewhere in the world, 5G has been in use for some time. China, for instance, is the leading player in the 5G network. Domestically, China is aiming to have 130,000 5G base stations by the end of this year. Abroad, Huawei has been one of the largest suppliers for 5G equipment worldwide, though as mentioned previously, the company has gotten embroiled in political deadlocks. These deadlocks are indicative of how the 5G network itself has become a political issue with the presence of a domestically made and operated 5G network no longer being a simple matter of prestige but also national security in certain contexts.
5G is not simply a speed upgrade over the 4G LTE networks. For on, 5G allows for far greater connection density as compared to its predecessor. This means that carriers will no longer face problems of network slowdown during peak hours because of the LTE capacity running out. Additionally, 5G will allow precision remote control in devices where increased latency can be hazardous. This includes remote control of heavy machinery, autonomous vehicles and most importantly, the possibility of use in remote precision surgery and physical therapy via AR. On a basic level, public infrastructure will greatly benefit from the use of 5G. 5G allows sensors to effectively communicate with each other using reduced resources as one 5G hub will be able to support many sensors. This will allow public departments to get real-time notifications on pertinent issues like street lights that are not working for instance. Of course, 5G will also make wide-scale surveillance, with several devices linked up, much easier and cheaper but that is beyond the scope here. Regardless, 5G has innumerable possibilities that will allow us to communicate more efficiently with each other and our technology and the proper application of the same can prove game-changing for any nation which is why carriers across the world are scrambling to acquire and spread 5G networks. With such high stakes, it is not difficult to see why 5G is an issue of national security.
While there are more complex reasons to fear what 5G may make possible, a simpler explanation can still amply explain the 5G paranoia. The fear stems from the fact that 5G enables total connectivity at some point in the future. This, in itself, is not a bad thing. It will allow us to link all our services and devices in a complex network. Everything from utilities to public transport and even weapons of war will eventually be linked to this network. This will make things efficient and even safer in certain regards. But, it will open up a new frontier for a nation to protect. A
frontier that already exists but is nowhere near as vulnerable as it will be in the full connected future. If such networks can be hacked, then the nation is effectively being robbed of the keys it requires to control absolutely everything. The
US and UK have been especially paranoid about future Chinese attempts to gain access to their networks. Huawei, which is providing the equipment required for the network to be set up could be in a position to install 'backdoors' into these networks, a 'what-if' scenario that is simply
not acceptable to the two nations given their tense relations with China. Europe is also in the midst of such considerations though they are nowhere near the level of taking action. It is, therefore, not difficult to see why the
development of an indigenous 5G network is a big deal in the Indian context. Mukesh Ambani's assurance that the Jio network will be fully made in India is not simply a way of marketing his product in a time when the nation is obsessed with the idea of 'Aatama Nirbhar Bharat'. It is a way of assuring all concerned parties that the network will be set up using Indian components. How something as revolutionary as 5G plays out in India is something that still remains to be seen.