We're all quite aware by now that next generation communications simply do not run without sufficient bandwidth to carry these. That's why we're seeing so much development toward taking the wireless systems that we all know today and making these better. Places with 3G are moving to 4G. Places with 4G are stepping up to intermediary steps like 4.5G Pro and 4.9G, and everyone's breathlessly waiting for 5G to hit. This is no different in India, where 4G is proving to be the weapon of choice for mobile connectivity.
Reports from the annual Nokia Mobile Broadband Index study made it clear: 4G LTE (News - Alert) was the major data mover in India, responsible for 60 percent of the increase from 2015 levels. What's more, this proportion is likely only to increase as LTE use hits more places in India, going beyond the city and into the countryside, where the wireless connectivity method provides the first access some have ever had. Plus, several next generation communications technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT) and the ongoing growth of Smart Cities is likely to fuel further use of LTE up until 5G arrives sometime in 2020.
India in general is a good place to consider in terms of the changing face of connectivity, because it's had quite a bit of change in the field. The country saw its overall levels of data traffic increase 29 percent in 2016, and 3G actually was responsible for a lot of that growth. 3G use was up 25 percent, while 4G personally accounted for 13 percent of all data consumption. Between 3G and 4G, that accounts for 76 percent of all data traffic in India. 4G data consumption accounted for 22 petabytes' worth of traffic on the current network, and increases are expected routinely to follow.
The rise of next generation communications means that the growth of bandwidth-producing technologies like 5G must also rise as well, or the entire system buckles. We can't run all the technology we'd want to on bandwidth that was sufficient back when the Internet was mostly text; it just doesn't work that way. We have to have sufficient bandwidth to run the technology, or we can't take advantage of it. That's where advancing to LTE in places that don't have it, and in 5G when it comes out, will be so worthwhile in adding the extra necessary bandwidth to move the signals from place to place.
No bandwidth, no next generation communications; that's the lesson to take away from this, and India is showing conclusively that we need to be ready for the next generation of communications with next generation bandwidth too.
Edited by
Alicia Young
