5G technology and a glimpse at its human rights implication

The way technology has evolved over the years and transformed human interactions is quite compelling. Between the year 2007 to 2010, starting off as a freshman in the field of community development, I was involved in a project that aimed at empowering rural communities to take advantage of the opportunities presented by technologies – including internet for social change and empowerment.

The project deployed the use of mobile phones, community radios, recorded audio and video communication among other channels of information dissemination and knowledge exchange. Few farmers by then had access to feature mobile phones. In a group of about 30 women farmers, a feature phone, often provided for by the project was only handed over to the group chairperson. The phone would be used to make phone calls to agricultural radio talk shows, receive agricultural SMS to guide the group and communicate with project office.

Beginning of 2017, I worked on a similar project on ‘Enhancing Rice-Green gram Productivity in Northern Uganda’ alongside researchers from the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO), the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) and the College of Computing and Information Sciences (CoCIS) of Makerere University.  In that project, we were able to pilot and test innovative technologies using mobile and web based platforms including use of animated guides and contents to promote access to farmer’s knowledge and conceptualization of agronomic practices. It’s been a tremendous transformation since then.

Farmers; most but not all that I first interacted with earlier between 2007-2010 are now using smartphones as opposed to the feature phones. The depth of knowledge and information flow generated by use of these enabling technologies have advanced and transformed farming practices. The University/research and farming community’s engagement has also deepened. The livelihoods of farmers also improved according to evaluation reports.

Today, the digital world offers exciting and newer possibilities. The 5G technology for instance is likely to be a game changer. It has the potential to disrupt technological practices including mobile broadband experiences. Last year, while participating at the Digital Rights and Inclusion Forum 2019; a flagship event organized by Paradigm initiative in Lagos, Nigeria, the discussions around the possibilities of 5G in revolutionizing the internet experience was one that was mind blowing, exciting and yet at the same time worrying – especially from the perspective of a user like myself. With 5G revolution also comes negative externalities.

The downside of this technology revolution is often and can be associated with the whole concept of digital exclusion. Exclusion can be informed by geographies, communities and or at individual levels. There are also the gender dimensions to these technological developments. If developments are always approached only from the positive sides, it narrows down perspectives on the possible effect such developments may have on other segments of societies. The poor, the marginalized groups, the geographically disadvantaged areas, the rural communities do not and may not necessarily benefit the same way as others.

The 5G technology has of course emerged out of earlier generations. The 2G, 3G and   now 4Gs that we currently use. Telecommunication giants in Africa such as MTN are currently using 4G LTE technologies and are already in partnerships with other industry businesses such as Huawei to navigate and deploy the 5G across the continent. The 5G technology comes with new opportunities and possibilities including higher and faster internet speed, lower latency, delay speed and has potential to connect wireless to wireless technologies such as driverless cars and smart cities. While these offers exciting mirror towards the future, its deployment especially within urban and rural areas can be quite problematic as already highlighted.

The deployment of 5G technologies within the context of Sub-Sharan Africa is hinged on two geographical fronts – the Urban verses rural. It should be noted that in Africa, a high proportion of people live in rural areas. In addition, urban areas are often priority for telecom companies because of the business and profit motivations derived from it. Furthermore, older generations such as 2G and 3Gs remain in rural areas. So, what does this mean? It shows that if the current trend of mobile development and deployment continue, even with a high proportion of marginalized groups living in rural areas, more will be left behind – further perpetuating the already visible digital divide.

While 5G technology is a welcome move towards digital transformation and innovation, it is good for those societies with 5G enabled infrastructures but what about societies without infrastructures to deploy the 5Gs? How long will it take to have those areas connected? Considering the fact that the deployment of 5G infrastructures is dependent and driven by profit motivations of telecos; which is often than not concentrated in urban areas, what does that tell us for those in poor areas. What will be the cost of doing this business and also for the end user – even in as far as new devices are likely to be required?

The 2018 Alliance for Affordable internet report notes that only 19 countries globally can say they have affordable internet. Affordable internet needs affordable devices. With 1GB of data costing more than 16% of a person’s average monthly income, these developments not withstanding its positive side is likely to exacerbate digital and gender divide across geographies, communities and individuals. The Web foundation’s work on Women’s Rights Online further notes that women are 50% less likely than men to access the internet within the same community and moreover, once online they are 30-50% less likely to use internet to increase income or participate in public life.

While we do not know when this is likely to be possible for countries such as Uganda and many other sub-Sahara African countries, we need to worry even more about the human rights implications it has on citizens in the digital age. The issues of privacy, surveillance, personal data are all other issues to contend with. It has for instance,  taken Uganda Communication Commission (UCC) enormous efforts to clear the current 4G spectrum operating at the 800MHz and we don’t know yet, what it will take to dive into the 5G. Thinking about the divide side, gender and human rights perspectives of these tech evolutions enable us to embrace such developments with foresight and open minds – which may also help perhaps inform policy perspectives moving forward.

By

Moses Owiny

@mosesowiny