The Next Wave of the Digital Era: 5G Transformation

Recent headlines say it all - the next wave of digital transformation is upon us and 5G will play a big part of it. Carriers and telecom providers are vying to lead the charge and are mobilizing to quickly align with the advancements. By 2022, 60% of the global population will be internet users and 82% of all IP traffic will be video, as reported by Cisco’s latest Visual Networking Index. Carriers will have to transport 136 exabytes of traffic a month by 2024 - delivered into 1.5 billion 5G terminals. This is a fivefold increase in mobile data, as noted in Ericsson’s 2018 Mobility Report. In addition, North America and major regions across Asia will greatly surpass Europe in terms of 5G connections over the next five years.  
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5G potentially offers huge benefits over existing 4G networks in some of the following ways:

• Faster Speeds - Data downloads will be 100x faster. To put this into perspective, a movie that takes 10 minutes to download on 4G/LTE, will take about 1 second on a 5G network.
• Lower Latencies - An essential component for supporting the massive amounts of connected devices (per Cisco, an estimated average of 3.6 connected devices per person will be in use by 2022).
• Optimize End-user Experience - Streaming will be more seamless and there will be reduced delays in high-speed virtual reality videos.
• Additional Capacity - Cell towers will have more capacity and be able to connect more devices at the same time. And, as reported by Cisco, there will be 28 billion devices and online connections by 2022.
  
  

5G will also have an impact on a wide variety of industries including:

• Telecom - Carriers can drastically improve speeds to better compete with cable and satellite providers.
• Telehealth - Improvement for remote care capabilities, allowing faster connection speeds for communication with doctors via chat or video.
• Entertainment/Media - Experiences enabled by 5G networks will account for nearly $1.3 trillion in revenue opportunities over next 10 years (as reported in the “5G Economics of Entertainment Report” by Intel/Ovum).
• Financial Services - The high data capacity and low latency nature of 5G networks will help banks and financial firms deliver new and innovative mobile services – accessible wherever the customer is located.

Not surprisingly, there are massive revenue growth predictions out there. For example, in the US, the FCC reported that based on a national 5G rollout, the economic impact of this new technology will stimulate $2.5B in investments and a savings of over $2B in telco fees. In preparation for all of this, 5G-related companies and operators are readying infrastructures.  

And to throw one more fun fact in there from Cisco: internet traffic is slated to reach 4.7 zettabytes by 2022 - which is more than the entire history of the internet combined. These are amazing stats and point us forward to the future and a continuing wave of digital transformation.
5G will allow telecoms to innovate and grow - bringing a myriad of opportunities. It will make significant impact on our capabilities, economy, and deliver undeniable benefits for end-users. It will be exciting to see the developments near-term and into the future. Stay tuned for more!

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