On December 1, 2018, South Korea became the first country to offer 5G (the fifth generation mobile wireless standard) and it’s fair to say that the mobile industry has made breathtaking advances since the first mobile phone call was made back in 1973. Mobile devices have reshaped our world in ways that we never could have predicted. Most countries plan to start adopting 5G in 2020 and this is set to help drive the Internet of Things (IoT) and big data.

Every successive generation of wireless standards – abbreviated to “G” – have introduced dizzying advances in data-carrying capacity and decreases in latency, and 5G will be no exception. Although formal 5G standards are yet to be set, 5G is expected to be at least three times faster than current 4G standards.

To truly understand how we got here, it’s useful to chart the unstoppable rise of wireless standards from the first generation (1G) to where we are today, on the cusp of a global 5G rollout.

1G: Where it all began

The first generation of mobile networks – or 1G as they were retroactively dubbed when the next generation was introduced – was launched by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) in Tokyo in 1979. By 1984, NTT had rolled out 1G to cover the whole of Japan.

In 1983, the US approved the first 1G operations and the Motorola’s DynaTAC became one of the first ‘mobile’ phones to see widespread use stateside. Other countries such as Canada and the UK rolled out their own 1G networks a few years later.

However, 1G technology suffered from a number of drawbacks. Coverage was poor and sound quality was low. There was no roaming support between various operators and, as different systems operated on different frequency ranges, there was no compatibility between systems. Worse of all, calls weren’t encrypted, so anyone with a radio scanner could drop in on a call.

Despite these shortcomings and a hefty $3,995 price tag ($9,660 in today’s money), the DynaTAC still managed to rack up an astonishing 20 million global subscribers by 1990. There was no turning back; the success of 1G paved the way for the second generation, appropriately called 2G.

2G: The Cultural Revolution

The second generation of mobile networks, or 2G, was launched under the GSM standard in Finland in 1991. For the first time, calls could be encrypted and digital voice calls were significantly clearer with less static and background crackling.

But 2G was about much more than telecommunications; it helped lay the groundwork for nothing short of a cultural revolution. For the first time, people could send text messages (SMS), picture messages, and multimedia messages (MMS) on their phones. The analog past of 1G gave way to the digital future presented by 2G. This led to mass-adoption by consumers and businesses alike on a scale never before seen.

Although 2G’s transfer speeds were initially only around 9.6 kbit/s, operators rushed to invest in new infrastructure such as mobile cell towers. By the end of the era, speeds of 40 kbit/s were achievable and EDGE connections offered speeds of up to 500 kbit/s. Despite relatively sluggish speeds, 2G revolutionized the business landscape and changed the world forever.

3G: The ‘Packet-Switching’ Revolution

3G was launched by NTT DoCoMo in 2001 and aimed to standardize the network protocol used by vendors. This meant that users could access data from any location in the world as the ‘data packets’ that drive web connectivity were standardized. This made international roaming services a real possibility for the first time.  

3G’s increased data transfer capabilities (4 times faster than 2G) also led to the rise of new services such as video conferencing, video streaming and voice over IP (such as Skype). In 2002, the Blackberry was launched, and many of its powerful features were made possible by 3G connectivity.

The twilight era of 3G saw the launch of the iPhone in 2007, meaning that its network capability was about to be stretched like never before. 

4G: The Streaming Era

4G was first deployed in Stockholm, Sweden and  Oslo, Norway in 2009 as the Long Term Evolution (LTE) 4G standard. It was subsequently introduced throughout the world and made high-quality video streaming a reality for millions of consumers. 4G offers fast mobile web access (up to 1 gigabit per second for stationary users) which facilitates gaming services, HD videos and HQ video conferencing.

The catch was that while transitioning from 2G to 3G was as simple as switching SIM cards, mobile devices needed to be specifically designed to support 4G. This helped device manufacturers scale their profits dramatically by introducing new 4G-ready handsets and was one factor behind Apple’s rise to become the world’s first trillion dollar company.

While 4G is the current standard around the globe, some regions are plagued by network patchiness and have low 4G LTE penetration. According to Ogury, a mobile data platform, UK residents can only access 4G networks 53 percent of the time, for example.

5G: The Internet of Things Era