Out of 30,000 km of fiber that will laid by the project, 50% will be leased out to Telecom Service Providers and Cable TV operators on non-discriminatory basis.

KFON will lay a strong foundation for Digital Kerala architecture consisting of platforms for G2G, G2C, B2C interactions, enabling deployment of advanced applications for content delivery.
The project will bring in Content Service Providers into the picture after the initial infrastructure is laid, to facilitate provision of affordable broadband connectivity to households by the TSPs/ISPs/Cable Operators by leveraging this network. This will provide a level playing field for the best players in the telecom services field and discourage monopoly practices.

The state would be divided in to four regions consists of 3 – 4 districts each. The operators for each region will be selected through an open tender. SPV would provide the required bandwidth to these operators on subsidized rates. In lieu of this, free Internet is to be provided to the economically backward households. The minimum grant to the operator for providing free internet and the revenue share for the additional services are the bid parameters in the tender.

Technology transformation with the advent of 5G

One of the biggest technological buzzes of late, happening in the telecom sector, is the coming of the fifth-generation network or 5G. Let’s look at how different it is from the previous generations. The salient feature of each generation is as follows.

1G: Mobile voice calls
2G: Mobile voice calls and SMS
3G: Mobile web browsing
4G: Mobile video consumption and higher data speed
5G: Technology to digitize industries offer services to consumers and digitalize industries.

5G is the next generation of mobile broadband that will eventually replace, or at least augment the 4G LTE connection. It will be a gamechanger as it will radically improve network connections. Video buffering which is a bane at present when checking newsfeeds, will disappear. There will be less disruptions when sharing videos from crowded areas too. Exponentially faster downloads, stabler internet, reduced latency and more secure connections will make services faster and better. The net result is a great user experience.

As far as data speeds are concerned, we could avail of peak data rates of 20Gbps downlink and 10Gbps uplink per mobile device, that is, speed shared by all users on the device with 5G. The download speed per user will be 50 Mbps to 100 Mbps. Users can avail of a higher speed when accessing files, programs and remote applications without delay. By intensifying the use of the cloud, all devices will depend less on the internal memory and on the accumulation of data. Therefore, it will not be required to install a large number of processors on some objects as well.

Latency or the time taken by data to travel from one point to another will be 4 milliseconds usually and 1 millisecond for specific cases needing high-speed such as surgeries done remotely. In 5G the latency will be ten times less than in 4G, being able to perform remote actions in real time. This coupled with the increase of the sensors makes it possible to control the machinery of an industrial plant, control logistics or remote transport, surgical operations in which the doctor can intervene a patient who is at another side of the world with the help of precision instrumentation managed remotely or the complete control of remote and automated transport systems. The creation of subnetworks will give specific characteristics to a part of the network, being a programmable network and will allow to prioritize connections. Latencies which are different or of different priorities can be in the network, so that possible overloads of the networks are well handled.

5G will enable base stations to support movement from 0 to 310 mph, that is, the base station will work across a range of antenna movements. This is easy on LTE networks. Radio interfaces will be energy efficient when in use, and drop into low-energy mode when not in use. In other words, a radio should be able to switch into a low-energy state within 10 milliseconds when not used.
5G will mean improved Spectral efficiency which is defined as the optimized use of spectrum or bandwidth for transmitting maximum amount of data with the fewest transmission errors. The spectral efficiency is 30bits/Hz downlink, and 15 bits/Hz uplink. 5G will also support many more connected devices than LTE, up to 1 million connected devices per square kilometre, even considering a large number of devices that will power IoT. There is the added advantage of being able to implement virtual networks, also called network slicing and providing more connectivity to concrete needs.

IoT is a very happening area right now. A residence is expected to have over a hundred connected devices sending and receiving information in real-time. In the case of industries, it should be easily thousands of connected devices. This phenomenon will lead to smart cities where the above two combines. Monitoring a smart city will be easier by placing sensors in different points and objects in the city. Sharing/managing the information of the sensors of the automobiles and those of the city enables us to improve the quality of life of the cities. We can facilitate the navigation of the autonomous car such as choosing better routes, bringing down the number of accidents, planning and locating parking spaces, etc.

5G in India

India’s first 5G network trial was conducted by Bharti Airtel and the Chinese telecom multinational Huawei in February 2018. However, Chinese companies have always posed security concerns and the Indian government has been taking serious cognizance of it. A telecom committee was set up by the government to look into alternatives for the Chinese association, especially keeping economic and security interests in mind. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) issued a white paper press statement declaring that 5G will transform communication networks and create massive growth in Indian economy by the year 2021. By 2019, mobile phone companies all over the world started deploying 5G cellular network standard. In March 2020, the first ever all-5G smartphone Samsung Galaxy S20 was launched.

As 5G catches on in India, the net speeds required to catch up with it will also be phenomenally higher. KFON meshes perfectly into the picture and will position the state well to be ahead of the race.