My brief view on the status of 5G

After MWC 2019 it seems 5G can’t be called a hype anymore, however in my view it doesn’t seem to get passed being a marketing term at this moment.

There were a lot of “promises” made, but earliest in 1? - 2 years time we will see a part of its potential becoming available in terms of higher speeds and new cloud services.

For the full potential to become available  we will have to wait for at least 5+ years to see its usage in improved augmented reality and artificial intelligence and before it reaches its full potential usage within the IoT world, I believe we will be looking at 7+ years.

Huge investments have to be made within the build of the networks, however also new equipment with a higher cost and not only smart phones, but also the 5G-modems they need to connect with cost more.

The tremendous potential 5G seems to incorporate, seems to have a need for more severe security and privacy regulations (i.e. due to more cloud usage). Within the EU there is being and has already been looked at its impact, as part of the European Electronic Communications Code, on i.e. GDPR and net neutrality. There is also cooperation with the GSMA on the security aspect.

And in this case, due to the enormous potential of 5G, it’s not just security and privacy at consumer level being a concern to regulators; in this case these aspects also come in sight concerning which 5G supplier to choose by providers or allowed to be chosen by providers by their national governments and authorities.

My conclusion, at present 5G without doubt seems to have a lot of potential, but at this moment is not a whole lot more than a marketing term. A lot of struggles need to be overcome and before anyone of us as business as well as private consumer can make use of its full potential in a secure- and privacy covering way, it will take at least 5+ years, likely even more, 7+ years.