A 5G test network has been launched in Lviv. PR or the real start of a new generation of communications? Let's analyze it in detail

As Vodafone Ukraine specified, the test zone will cover the most visited places: the historical center of the city and adjacent neighborhoods, Lviv Polytechnic University, 5G coverage will also appear at the Main Railway Station. Lifecell gives the following geography: Rynok Square and adjacent streets, within a radius of approximately 700 meters from the Town Hall. Plus — the train station.

lifecell clarified that the test network at the location is deployed in the NSA (Non-Standalone) standard, that is, it is not a stand-alone network.

This means that it works on top of the existing 4G infrastructure. 4G LTE is responsible for managing the network — as a «backbone» for communication. And 5G NR (New Radio) is used only for data transmission — that is, it guarantees increased speed and bandwidth. To do this, the operator does not build a network from scratch. New 5G antennas are placed next to the existing 4G in the same areas.

In other words, such a test network launch is a fairly affordable experiment in terms of investment and time.

lifecell emphasizes that the width of the radio channel under the 5G test is 100 MHz, «which is five times larger than in 4G, where it is limited to 20 MHz.»

Operators are urging subscribers whose smartphones support 5G to take advantage of the opportunity in the center of Lviv and test the new generation.

The experiment looks really intriguing, especially when Kyivstar writes:

«According to the results of testing that preceded the official launch in Lviv, the maximum download speed in the Kyivstar 5G network exceeded 2.4 Gbps.» Meanwhile, Mykhailo Fedorov wrote that the data transfer speed per subscriber in the center of Lviv is about 500 Mbps.

If the testing in Lviv is successful, Kyivstar promises that the 5G network will be gradually deployed in other cities, in particular, in Borodyanka and Kharkiv, and later in Kyiv and Odessa.

Fedorov also promises to launch 5G in other cities. «We planned to fully launch the technology in 2022, but the full-scale war forced us to postpone these plans for security reasons,» adds the Minister of Digital Transformation.

And now the question

After reading the releases from the operators, there were many questions that were not addressed in them.

1. Such an open test looks like a full-fledged 5G network pilot, when operators have already received a license and started building a new network. But what about the competition for radio frequencies?

Typically, subscribers received access to new communication technologies in Ukraine only after auctions were held — operators competed to see who would get the best frequencies and build the best network. And 4G test zones before obtaining licenses were more limited. For example, the office premises of the cellular company itself as a test zone.

In the case of 5G , all subscribers in the center of a large city have access to the technology. This has never happened before.

Testing will last quite a long time — tentatively until the end of 2026, Vodafone Ukraine says. And the full implementation of 5G in Ukraine is possible only after the end of the war, Kyivstar adds.

From this we can conclude that operators are not expecting tenders this year. And the phrase «after the war is over» has recently begun to resemble the phrase «let’s do it after the holidays.» Only in the case of the holidays, they actually end.

2. How much will a 5G license cost?

In fact, there is no final starting price yet. In Ukraine (as in other European countries), 5G is planned to be launched in the 3.5 GHz and 700 MHz bands. It is currently known that Ukraine only plans to order an assessment of the potential cost of such radio frequencies from the British company Aetha Consulting Limited, with money from Swedfund.

Based on the prices for frequencies in previous generations, licenses for 5G bands will cost operators quite a lot. For example, now the nominal cost of a license to use one megahertz in one region in the 1920-1980 MHz range costs 1.8 million UAH. And this is only for one region (and we have 25 of them, excluding occupied Crimea and Sevastopol).

So a license for 100 MHz throughout the country in this range would nominally cost 4.5 billion UAH. And that’s without an auction. It would simply be a starting price.

3. And when is the conversion?

Radio frequency conversion is a process where outdated communication technologies on certain bands are replaced with new ones. But to do this, users and subscribers of old technologies need to buy new equipment and transfer their communication devices to alternative bands.

For 5G frequencies, such a conversion has not yet been carried out. Of particular interest are the 700 MHz frequencies, where digital terrestrial television (T2) currently operates. It needs to be moved (or «shoved») somewhere.

Also, military communications equipment may operate next to or directly in the 5G bands. And the launch of civilian technologies should be done very carefully, especially in wartime. The military may ask (and most likely will ask) for money to conduct conversion, that is, to transfer their activities to other bands, or to purchase more modern communications equipment. These can be substantial amounts, based on previous experience with conversion to 3G and 4G. And as a rule, these are long disputes between private companies and state structures regarding the final price of the conversion. After all, it is the operators who pay for it.

The start of the 5G conversion has not yet been announced.

«After approvals with the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and successful testing of the technology, we are scaling up the pilot,» writes Mykhailo Fedorov. Perhaps in his new position (Minister of Defense), he will really be able to speed up this process, which usually dragged on for a year or more.

4. Who is the manufacturer of the equipment?

This is a very fundamental issue these days, oddly enough. It so happened that a significant part of 4G networks in Ukraine is built on the equipment of Chinese vendors — Huawei and ZTE. If the 5G network will be built on the principle of Non-Standalone (i.e., on the basis of the existing 4G), then 5G modules will most likely also be completed by Chinese ones.

Is it safe to do this in our realities? A rhetorical question, isn’t it?

5. What about the support network?

In order for the base station installed at the Lviv City Hall to provide 1 Gbit/sec, the optics that connect to it must also «provide» 1 Gbit/sec. In the case of the center of Lviv, this is most likely the case. After all, this is a demonstration zone. What about the rest of the country’s cities? Gigabit optics are not compatible with base stations everywhere. The network will still have to be prepared.

Overall, from a subscriber perspective, access to 5G is a really useful and timely initiative, considering the fact that the technology began to be introduced in Europe in the last decade. That is, it is not entirely new to the world.

Unfortunately, we are lagging behind. And yes, we want to catch up, despite the war.