So, what's all this hype about 5G?
My first Linkedin article - here goes nothing!
With consumer services set for launch in the next few years & field trials already under-way it's safe to say that the arrival of our fifth generation of mobile network services is finally approaching. The intrepid partnership of Swedish telco TeliaSonera & networking giant Erickson have announced that they plan to launch their trail fifth generation service in Stockholm (2018) with a full commercial launch landing a couple of years later in 2020. This isn't the first time that these two giants have collaborated, previously taking poll position in the worlds first commercial launch of 4G mobile services in late 2009.
Great, but what is 5G ?
5G is the next evolution of wireless data networks, representing an overhauled and improved version of existing 4G wireless broadband technology. (Based on the IEEE 802.11ac standard.)
More data, faster - Current 4G speed is capped at around 1GBPS (Giga bits per second). Much like widely advertised fixed broadband speeds however, the reality is real download / upload speeds will be significantly lower than the theoretical maximum, typically around 15MBPS. (Mega bits per second) That being said 5G is 10x faster with a cap of around 10 gigs. To put this in context, multi-national networking & infrastructure giant Huawei has given the example of an eight gigabyte HD movie fully downloaded in a blistering six seconds.
Drastic reduction in latency - Latency is a term used to describe the 'lag' time it takes for a packet of data to be sent from one device to another. 4G technology currently operates at around 50 milliseconds with 5G set to reduce this to just 1 millisecond. This has exciting and far-reaching consequences for many industries that require precise & immediate communication between devices, such as remotely operated medical tech & driverless vehicles.
Global connectivity - 5G will do much to facilitate the highly vaunted IoT, (Internet of Things) with the quantity of connected devices set to increase massively over the next few years. By 2020, industry analysts predict 50 billion devices will be connected to mobile networks worldwide.
The future is here people - From your car to your kettle, (Seriously https://tinyurl.com/j45gqc3) half your home will have a unique IP & become remotely accessible. We're talking controlling your house from an app on your phone - Heating, lights ... toaster. (https://tinyurl.com/zcoad9v) In fact, a big driver behind 5G globally is how this technology will facilitate the next wave of smart devices, smart homes & even smart cities.
But what does this mean to me?
Well, depending on if you're looking at this from a commercial, personal or holistic perspective there are a variety of different impacts. It certainly seems that many companies are yet to fully come to terms with the massive implications of vastly increased wireless broadband availability & speed.
On a personal level you'll have the web's endless stream of content available instantly at your fingers, all for a similar price that we pay now for 4G. Plus improved network speeds overlayed with an ever expanding set of OTT content services really does paint a rosy picture for consumers. Additionally the 5G rollout will pave the way for content that is more bandwidth heavy such as streaming entire OS's or heavy duty software directly from the cloud, and even the next wave of augmented / virtual reality products.
Separately I imagine the fully fledged launch of ultra-high speed wireless broadband will signal the beginning of the end for FBB services. After all, if security concerns are aptly addressed & you can get the same speed / up time wireless then why go 'old school'? From the waves of M&A's in the telco sector with many ISP's moving to acquire mobile counterparts (Most recently BT's massive takeover of EE in the UK which was finally approved by regulator Ofcom this January - https://tinyurl.com/ze2jbjz) it seems that this has been on the minds of industry egg-heads for some time.
Challenges - All this being said, 5G implementation will also present a raft of challenges - not least of which being the convoluted telecom regulatory environment, strained further by the EU's schizophrenic & delayed approach to policy. Further challenges will include achieving standardization & a dramatically increased load on networks, stretching infrastructure as traffic massively increases.
Roll-out will also come with financial implications given the massively competitive marketplace driving down prices & a lack of government funding to stimulate innovation or structural improvement in the sector.
Hope this was informative, suffice to say it's going to be a very interesting few years in the telco sector!