Colombia. The evolutionary process of mobile networks has always pursued the objective of satisfying the demands of a changing market through the new generations. 5G becomes an opportunity for the opening of new businesses and the promotion of emerging technologies by expanding broadband capacity, maximizing connectivity, efficiently contributing to intelligent automation, among other features.
The 5G Colombia Plan prepared by MinTIC, cites that, according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), compared to the 5G standard, benefits have been determined in terms of Internet connection speeds with theoretical maximums of up to 20 Gbps in download and 10 Gbps in upload, reducing download times by up to 80% compared to 4G LTE networks, and an expansion of the number of supported connections to a higher density of connected devices per square kilometer.
With these characteristics, a greater use of emerging technologies that will promote the development of smart city projects is also proposed For this reason, access to high-speed broadband represents a constant need for government administrations in rural areas where it is necessary to technify several sectors. However, the implementation of 5G for these areas will not be carried out in the short term, it is there where LTE technology in the 700MHz band is presented as a solution suitable to your needs with immediate availability. Although in Colombia operators are already conducting tests, MinTIC will launch a call to promote the development of 5G applications or use cases and it is expected that the commercial deployment of the networks will begin in 2022.
The growth of the sector is imminent with respect to the level of fixed and mobile internet access, the average download speed and number of users, so, as of this year, so that operators can sell broadband services, the minimum transmission speed went from 5Mbps to 25Mbps, which implies technological changes that allow the operator to exploit the installed resources more efficiently.
The telecommunications sector in Colombia, for example, is currently dominated by traditional operators such as Claro, Tigo/Une, Movistar and ETB in both fixed and mobile access with 3G and 4G technologies, it is possible that in the case of 5G, few companies enter to compete. However, the entry of these networks into the country implies a strong investment in infrastructure because the operation of this technology requires a higher density of antennas and a much higher connection requirement than the current one. In this way, the need to increase fiber optic connectivity in the access network is evident, which is presented as the main opportunity for regional internet providers, who have this infrastructure already implemented for the provision of internet and television services in small towns.
Trends in 5G mobile networks, the Internet of Things and cloud-based services are forcing the architecture of transmission networks and internet access in general to those based on content networks, where user information is getting closer and closer for higher quality. So to be able to handle large data flows such as the deployment of 5G, it is necessary to implement fiber optics in access networks to support the levels of latency and bandwidth required for its proper operation.
With the arrival of 5G, regional cable operators have a unique opportunity to have greater participation in alternative markets such as corporate, data center interconnection or to provide mobile network backhaul services, however, they need to implement technologies that allow them to increase capacity and improve the quality of their service with higher bandwidth connections and lower latency, optimizing the physical resources of your network. To increase the amount of data that can be transmitted by their installed fiber, operators must adopt technologies that support the new requirements mentioned, as is the case of DWDM (Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing) technology, which allows to increase by up to 80 times the amount of information that can be transmitted by means of an optical fiber using wavelength division multiplexing.
Text written by Hernán Yepes, Caribbean and Latin America regional manager of Padtec, a leading Brazilian company in fiber optic transmission systems in Latin America.
