“G” stands for “generation”, and “5” refers to the fact that it is the fifth generation of mobile communications systems. The number denotes the level of development of mobile technologies referring to the fundamental differences between the individual generations. Compared with earlier straight-line development, 5G represents a quantum leap relative to 4G.

5G is one of the greatest technological milestones of our age, which, in addition to enhancing the abilities of telecommunications services dramatically, facilitates the development of completely new services and business models. It will bring about amazingly unique changes soon to be reflected in transportation, industry, agriculture, health care, energy industry, emergency management, entertainment and the media.

It will offer a faster, snugger and more reliable future. It will satisfy the increasingly high Internet and data demand of mobile communications-based devices, equipment and sensors. 5G offers outstanding technological development in various areas of life including health care, transportation, industry, emergency management and smart city developments.

5G is set to be as much as 100 times faster than 4G, and able to support 1 million connected devices in a square kilometre. All this comes at a much higher speed, almost real time and at ultra-high reliability. 5G is the most efficient mobile technology ever.

It is the frequency spectrums as well as the software and hardware solutions, e.g. antennae, terminal equipment, sensors and mobile phones, that 5G uses that makes it more efficient. As a result of the technological innovations of 5G the amount of data transferred per unit of bandwidth and the energy consumption per unit of bandwidth will significantly improve.

5G has arrived and is here to stay. Thanks to 5G devices and equipment, remarkable evolutionary network development is currently under way in Hungary, as a result of which all service providers will be able to offer 5G technology this year. Mobile phones capable of using this technology will also hit the market in rapid succession. There is an even pace of 5G development in Europe, and Hungary is committed to the fastest possible adoption of this technology.

The result of 5G developments is not an abrupt change, rather a process. Thus, users can adapt and devices can be adapted to new solutions. The technology will probably take only a few years to gain ground.

From 2019 several Hungarian mobile service provider will provide mobile phones with 5G capabilities. The early development of 5G networks began in 2019, and the networks will be available everywhere in a few years. The first advantage that users will experience is speed.

It is safe to say that they will be of world-class quality. There is a solid basis to rely on because mobile networks in Hungary are already of world-class quality in terms of both download speed and availability.

The 5G Coalition (5GC) in Hungary now counts 80 members from industry, academia and the government. The testing of 5G-based intelligent transportation use cases has been launched on a 5G-based self-driving vehicle test track in Zalaegerszeg. According to the plans, a 5G Centre of Excellence will be created, where 5G-based applications will be developed and tested.

The first immediately tangible advantage of 5G is its wide bandwidth, i.e. it will give you an unbelievably fast mobile Internet access. This, in turn, will lead to the emergence of services and applications that need such high speed. Examples include 360° 4K/8K resolution videos, on-line streaming, and VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality) computer games.

5G offers new perspectives, increased security and innovative solutions in medicine, transportation, urban management, industry, sports and entertainment.

5G will render traffic, transportation and logistics safer. Connected self-driving vehicles will become reality. Communication between vehicles will lead to fewer road accidents, the likely disappearance of congestion and reduction in harmful emission.  

Cities will also rely on 5G in their safe and economical operation. Thousands of sensors in traffic lights, manhole covers, window boxes, bus stops and benches will collect data needed for urban management, as a result of which urban life will become safer and more comfortable.

Thanks to digitalised networked machines, production lines and factories, 5G will also provide revolutionary solutions in industrial production. Thanks to wireless production elements, it will only take a few hours to enable such factories to switch to a new type of production, as a result of which customised mass production will become reality. Drones using 5G communication will only take a few hours to perform otherwise long-protracted warehousing and inventorying tasks.

Thanks to the significantly greater capacity of 5G, just anything from running shoes, bicycles, homes, the collars or chips of our pets, important devices and mail to purchase orders can be networked; as a result, we will be able to keep track of them second by second wherever they may be in the world.

The newest generation of wireless technology, one of the key technological inventions of our age is about to conquer the world. 5G offers faster data transmission with shorter response time (i.e. low latency) while serving a higher number of end-points at the same time.

Similar to communication by radio and television broadcasting, air traffic control, satellites and radars, 5G communication like previous generations of mobile technologies (2G, 3G, 4G) also relies on electromagnetic waves.
Mobile telephones use radio frequency radiation to communicate with each other. Exposure to such radiation from base stations and mobile devices is subject to national and international regulations. Stringent allowable limits complying with EU standards apply in Hungary. The threshold set by international bodies is significantly lower than radiation level where health damage is done.

Responsibility for supervising compliance with regulations and limit values aimed at the protection of human health lies with the government (National Media and Infocommunications Authority and National Public Health Centre). Electromagnetic radiation has been measured in the vicinity of childcare institutions, condominiums, public roads and mobile phone masts in Hungary for 25 years, i.e. since the introduction of mobile phones. No overstepping the threshold levels has been identified anywhere during the annual average of four hundred measurements. Nor has one instance been identified in the case of the mobile phone masts commissioned in Budapest, Zalaegerszeg and Győr either. The physiological effects of the electromagnetic radiation used by 5G, 4G or other applications (e.g. WiFi) are basically the same.

Antenna radiation in Hungary is by far lower than allowable limits. Measured values vary between 0.001 W/m² and 0.002 W/m² compared with the 10 W/m² threshold of exposure of the general public to electromagnetic fields.
Radiation from the vast majority of the mobile phones in Europe, including Hungary is only 0.7-0.9 W/kg, well below the 2 W/kg allowable limit.

In the opinion of the World Health Organisation (WHO) based on scientific research and observation on-going for decades, the electromagnetic field, if kept under the threshold established by international bodies, does not pose any health risk. It is reassuring that, owing to the widespread use of mobile phones, WHO proposes that research into this impact be continued.

The new generation technology offers higher transmission speed, which, in turn, reduces time needed for data transmission, with the combined effect that electromagnetic exposure will diminish. Denser networks ensure better radio communication, therefore, mobile telephones and other devices will require less power to operate, which will further reduce radiation from them. Accordingly, exposure of the general public to electromagnetic fields is not expected to increase in the long term either.

Based on WHO statement 5G mobile networks DO NOT spread COVID-19. Viruses cannot travel on radio waves/mobile networks. COVID-19 is spreading in many countries that do not have 5G mobile networks. COVID-19 is spread through respiratory droplets when an infected person coughs, sneezes or speaks. People can also be infected by touching a contaminated surface and then their eyes, mouth or nose.

Members of the 5G Coalition are committed to compliance with limit values for health effects and to causing them to be complied with, as well as to the establishment and operation of 5G networks that are safe and do not present any health hazard. The 5G Coalition supports scientific research into the health effects of 5G.

The 5G Coalition feels necessary the regular measurement of 5G limit values for health effects and related research and the publication of national and international studies.

New applications will provide smart services making our lives simpler, safer, snugger and more predictable. Communication based on faster technologies will save quality time, which will improve people’s well-being.

Reliable devices, unprecedented download speed as well as device upgrades with convenience functions. Thanks to applications and services based on 5G, a new world is likely to open up in the coming decade.

It will facilitate the spread of remote surgery. Offering robotic solutions, it will render complicated surgeries less risky while providing safer monitoring for those in need of permanent medical surveillance. It will facilitate faster and more efficient medical research.  

5G provides ultra-high reliability for human communication, human-machine communication and machine communication practically in a real-time manner, with no latency.

Development begets new development. Harnessing the potential of 5G inspires those in the field of research and development to open up new areas of application and achieve results that can be put to good use in nearly all aspects of life.