Broadlands narrowing in on 5G?

Clinton Mutambo Avatar

Going over reports from the ICT global conference held in Harare last week, we came across something that made us stop. It’s a report published by “The Zimbabwean” that basically says Broadlands Networks is preparing to launch a 5G network. Here’s an extract from the report:

Siziba was the Chief Executive of Cosmos Cellular, a service provider to government-controlled NetOne (Private) Limited when it was formed in 1996. He fell out of favour with NetOne due to failure to remit funds to the holding firm. He is understood to be planning to use the latest 5G technology in his new network. This would be the most advanced in Zimbabwe today, market players confirm.

Just so you understand why we were surprised, here’s a short description of the 5G technology on Wikipedia:

5G (5th generation mobile networks or 5th generation wireless systems) is a name used in some research papers and projects to denote the next major phase of mobile telecommunications standards beyond the upcoming 4G standards (which is expected to be finalized between approximately 2011 and 2013). Currently, 5G is not a term officially used for any particular specification or in any official document yet made public by telecommunication companies or standardization bodies such as 3GPP, WiMAX Forum or ITU-R. New standard releases beyond 4G are in progress by standardization bodies, but are at this time not considered as new mobile generations but under the 4G umbrella.

It’s not clear if Broadlands itself actually made the 5G claim or if this is just the writer’s own understanding of Broadlands’ plans. It’s also worrying that apparently some “market players” are confirming this.

We last wrote about Broadlands back in March 2010 in a follow-up article to a claim they made in 2009 that the company would have affordable telecommunications services for the majority of Zimbabweans by January 2010. It didn’t happen. What did happen is the public fallout with the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ).  Broadlands Networks is a POTRAZ licensed Public Data Network  Operator.

11 comments

  1. ★ Byers Design ★

    Nice article. WOW, cannot wait for that. What kind of speeds can we expect?

  2. ★ Byers Design ★

    Nice article. WOW, cannot wait for that. What kind of speeds can we expect?

  3. Munyorimukanya

    Nice techno-journalism work TechZim!

  4. Itai

    I almost puked at the sight of the headline. Great work with the can-and-string snap, 5G would look somewhat like that, I suppose 🙂

  5. Fourwallsinaroom

    Reminds me of Tmobile USA and Cell C with claims to 4G… rather they used HSDPA to achieve speeds relatively close to 4G but did not deploy LTE or other accepted 4G standards… probably the same thing.
    Or alternatively building an access network that provides 5Gb/s as a backbone. Which would be far from competitive given others are running 10G etc.

  6. Fourwallsinaroom

    Reminds me of Tmobile USA and Cell C with claims to 4G… rather they used HSDPA to achieve speeds relatively close to 4G but did not deploy LTE or other accepted 4G standards… probably the same thing.
    Or alternatively building an access network that provides 5Gb/s as a backbone. Which would be far from competitive given others are running 10G etc.

  7. IT Guru

    There is no 4G in Zimbabwe – peak speed requirements for 4G service at 100 Mbit/s for high mobility communication (such as from trains and cars) and 1 Gbit/s for low mobility communication (such as pedestrians and stationary users) – let alone 5G???

  8. tendekai

    I think people shouldn’t make a big fuss over this. I ‘m sure it was a just a momentary slip of concentration if indeed he said so but more likely it’s just a typo in the document sourced. Is there anywhere else in the document where there is a reference to this 5G?

    5G DOES NOT EXIST… yet. It’s just a dub name for the next generation of connectivity which, at this point is mostly theoretical material. It is not the latest advancement because it is not there yet. Simple as that. 

  9. Masuka Lee

    Lets first finish talking about 4G, before 5G…5G should be something else like smelling what someone is cooking when u are on call, sensing the temperature of your call-collegue over the phone or any wireless device…e.t.c

  10. JamesM

    The fact that they them made claims in 2009 that were still unfulfilled by January 2010 just about says it all. Moral of the story is? Stop day-dreaming broadlands!

  11. Kakomarara1

    3G 5G 10G oooooooooooooh what the heak give me something cheap and fast chete, the rest kundiwanzira

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