The role of benchmark testing in 5G networks: Maredi Thema

By Maredi Thema, CEO and founder, Maredi Technologies

Johannesburg, 21 Jun 2023

A lot has been shared about the excitement of 5G networks and benefits of its features. What becomes clear is these network improvements will have far-reaching impacts on how people live, work and play all over the world.

With 5G, we will benefit as follows:

1. High speeds

5G works faster on mobile phones and other devices when compared to 4G and 4G LTE. It allows users to download movies, videos and music in seconds as opposed to minutes. The network has 20Gbps speed enabling organisations to use the same for services such as automation, advanced web conferencing, etc.

2. Low latency

5G has low latency when compared to 4G that will support new applications such as AI, IOT and virtual reality efficiently. Not only that, it enables mobile phone users to open a webpage and browse things without any hassles. Another thing is that it gives ways to access the internet at any time when looking for some important information.

3. Increased capacity

5G has the capacity to deliver up to 100 times more capacity than 4G. It allows companies to switch between cellular and WiFi wireless strategies that will help a lot to experience better performance. Apart from that, it provides methods to access the internet with high efficiency.

4. More bandwidth

One of the main advantages of 5G is that it increases more bandwidth that will help transfer the data as soon as possible. Furthermore, mobile phone users can ensure a faster connection with more bandwidth after choosing a 5G network.

5. Powering innovation

5G technology is the perfect choice for connecting with a whole range of different devices, including drones and sensors. It gives ways to power the adoption of IOT, allowing industries to enhance their productivity and other things.

6. Less tower congestion

4G cellular networks often get congested, which will result in various problems while accessing important data. On the other hand, 5G networks allow users to avoid them due to better speed and more bandwidth.

Network benchmarking illustrates to the operator how their network is performing in relation to its peers. It shows them how good/bad their respective networks are. It is one of the most fundamental and important procedures towards optimisation. Network benchmarking is the starting point towards the betterment of the network.

Network benchmarking solutions let customers around the world reduce complexity, minimise risk and increase efficiency when improving mobile network performance. This is to help master the ever-increasing challenges posed by technological innovation as well as the cost, time and competitive pressures.

The importance of performing 5G network benchmarking in today's highly competitive telecommunications industry cannot be emphasised enough. Benchmarking is the game-changer that allows you to stay ahead of the curve and provide unparalleled service to your customers. By testing and measuring network performance against your competitors, you gain a competitive edge that cannot be matched.

Benchmarking data is a powerful tool that can be used to make informed decisions about network investments. With access to accurate and comprehensive data on key performance indicators (KPIs), you can focus on implementing network improvements in a way that enhances the quality of service for end-customers and helps to reduce customer churn. By utilising benchmarking data, you can optimise your network's capacity, coverage and reliability, providing a seamless end-user experience. Benchmarking data can also be used for marketing – find out the strengths of your network against competitors and use them in advertising and promotion.

Whether you are a mobile network operator (MNO), a network equipment manufacturer (NEM), a handset maker or an IC maker, you can never have too much information about how your product performs against expectations and compared to competitors. Benchmarking the performance of mobile technologies has never been more important than with 5G.

MNOs cannot afford to deploy a device or piece of equipment unless they understand exactly how that device or equipment will perform on their network. The ability to measure and compare a network’s performance across many key-performance indicators (KPIs) has never been more critical. Benchmarking involves best practice methods and tools to measure both live mobile networks and lab testing.

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