If 5G is not needed..why building it so fast?

Many people (in Switzerland) think that the latest 5G mobile technology is being introduced too quickly. In general, they have doubts about the benefits of the new technology. I consider why this attitude is both short-sighted and wrong.

Imagine you're operating an important transit tunnel. Each year the volume of traffic is increasing: in five years you would have 14 times more vehicles passing through the tunnel. The demands of road users are rising at the same time: they want to drive through the tunnel faster than ever, all at the same time, while demanding even more safety. This is exactly what is happening on the mobile phone network. Data consumption is increasing unabated and has risen by a factor of 14 in Switzerland over the past five years. To gain a more vivid picture of what that means, try using your own smartphone on a 3G (EDGE or UMTS) connection for a day. It can be incredibly irritating.

People under the age of 26 consume eight times more data than older people. A large part of the data is generated by entertainment services. You might ask yourself if humanity needs music, video clips on social media or YouTube in 4K on a mobile phone. However, as CTO of Swisscom, it is not my job to question these customer behaviours. Customers use the digital opportunities available to them intensively and are perfectly entitled to do so – developments show that mobile communication and the mobile Internet have been the drivers of many innovations in recent years. The mobile Internet is changing how we communicate, consume media and shop – with far-reaching consequences for existing company business models.

Data and things

Although mobile communications were mainly optimised for the end user in the past and 5G now brings more capacity and speed for all, the biggest change that 5G brings is the opportunity to start networking lots of things and utilise the resulting data. 5G is the central platform for the complete digitisation of companies. Specific 5G characteristics such as short response times and guaranteed availability enable processes, machines and information in companies to be fully networked and automated further. Local 5G corporate networks combined with a local cloud (Edge Cloud) open up completely new opportunities in the automation of production and logistics processes. The high bandwidths will also make it possible to provide new customer and service experiences such as augmented reality or video applications in the future. This can provide completely new business opportunities for retail, medical and service organisations.  

Residential customers will then be able to virtually view a piece of furniture from a showroom in 3D directly in their own living room and get advice at home instead of in a specialist store. Or they can take a virtual walk through a planned house on a building plot and select the interior fittings. Or you can enjoy spending the evening with your grandmother on the sofa – only she is not physically with you, but two hours by car away at home. All of this brings huge opportunities for society and the economy.

The expansion needs to start as early as possible

It takes time to convert a mobile phone network to a new generation, from today’s network to 5G. A lot of time. The ICT industry has been working on this for years. At Swisscom, we started working on 5G many years ago and we expanded the first network elements for 5G in 2019. By the end of 2019 we want to cover 90% of the population with 5G (on existing 4G frequencies). But it will still take several years before the network is ready for the higher capacities and speeds to be available everywhere in line with the opportunities offered by 5G. This means that we must build the 5G now and over the next years so that new applications can emerge during this period. Just like with 3G when the iPhone appeared and revolutionised the mobile world from one day to the next.

For an attractive Switzerland

In summary: 5G needs a long-term approach. It's a building block that needs an eco-system of applications. Its full potential will only become apparent in combination with the cloud, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence or the analysis of data and information. These are the opportunities for Switzerland's economy and people. Switzerland has always been a pioneer in adapting new technologies, catapulting itself to a world-leading position. A powerful mobile phone network will make an important contribution to our future.