Obstacles to 5G rollout

While 5G has the potential to open up many exciting new possibilities in the world of IoT, there are currently many obstacles to its rollout. What’s holding back widespread 5G coverage?

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1. High-frequency millimeter wave

By giving mobile operators more capacity to deliver higher throughput and low-latency capabilities, high-frequency waves (between 24 and 100Ghz) will help them reach the promised high speeds of 5G.

However, high-frequency millimeter waves have difficulty penetrating buildings, trees, and other obstacles. This makes deploying 5G networks in cities a complicated task. In addition, their coverage is limited, which means that a dense network of antennas is required. In addition to this, millimeter wave spectrum is not yet widely available in all countries.

2. Uneven coverage

Many operators will use lower-frequency spectrum in the 600 Mhz–3Ghz range, and in order to utilize this spectrum, additional cell sites will be required to achieve the same coverage.

Since 5G networks are expensive to build and carriers want a big return on their investment, they will likely only deploy 5G networks in areas where they can get a high return. In practice, this means cities will see 5G networks (in some cases already) before rural areas (which may never get 5G).

3. 5G health scare

People are uneasy about the potential health hazards of 5G and have launched petitions to boycott the technology. One California city has voted to ban 5G towers, claiming they pose a risk to public health.

Although there is no hard evidence so far that 5G poses a threat to people's health, rumors are rife and people are concerned. (Source: IoT Home Network) If mobile operators and governments don't listen and ease people's concerns, they may see a public outcry against 5G that will slow its adoption.

In our view, these are the biggest barriers to widespread 5G adoption. None of them are insurmountable, and with determination and some forward-looking planning, they can be overcome.