5G is coming. And in Sacramento, it’s coming sooner.
2017 saw many companies involved in the future of 5G conducting tests and experiments. 2018 will see the tests transform into the real deal. Verizon will roll out its first home-based 5G system in five U.S. markets by year’s end. Sacramento, California is slated to be first, but it definitely won’t be the last.
5G isn’t expected to be available on wireless networks until 2019, but these home rollouts will apply the blazing speed of 5G to everything from how fast you can download a movie to how fast your dishwasher queues up (think Internet of Things on steroids).
“The impact of 5G is groundbreaking and will accelerate innovation in all of the technologies we showcase at CES (Consumer Electronics Show), from smart home and appliances, drones, and robotics to self-driving vehicles and smart city technologies,” says Gary Shapiro, president of the Consumer Technology Association, which runs CES.
While the average consumer will view the transformation to 5G as generally seamless, behind the scenes, the roll-out will require a huge upgrade of the entire online infrastructure, which can present incredible opportunities — and pitfalls — for traditional telecoms.
Some specific 5 G-related items that telecoms should keep an eye on in 2018:
Get Your Fiber: And we aren’t talking about grabbing a bran muffin. People don’t intuitively think of wire and 5G in the same breath, but the 5G emergence will require a whole new infrastructure of cables and wires to cell sites that underpin the cloud-based systems. Many legacy telecoms are well-positioned to offer the right blend of innovation and experience to this vast upgrade.
Emergence Of The Smart City: It’s easy to dismiss “smart city” as simply a flavor-of-the-month buzzword (who wants their city labeled as a “Dumb City?”), but scratch below the surface, and there’s depth to the description. And that means opportunity. Everything from traffic regulation to parking meters to water plant operation to street lights can be aided by supercharged 5G technology. This means there will be numerous opportunities for government contracts.
Internet Of Things: Data is transferred 10 times faster on a 5G network than the next fastest 4G LTE. This means that the issue of latency is largely laid to rest, and manufacturers can start upgrading everyday items for this new infusion of speedy data, look for everything from your toaster to your water heater to move online. And fast. Telecoms need to be positioned to offer everything from the newest infrastructure needs on the backend to front-end portals.
Self-driving Cars: Self-driving cars have largely been marginalized by Silicon Valley and wealthy tech investors. Occasionally you’ll hear a news report of one involved in an accident. But with the speed of 5G, look for self-driving cars to take off. Look for more tests, more rollouts, and more success. Songeti Labs writes that self-driving cars may provide the “ultimate use case for telecoms.” 5G technology has yielded stunning results on tests of self-driving cars in the United States, and this opens up a whole new untapped universe for traditional telecoms to tap.
5G Comes to TV: We can’t stress enough how much the Olympics (in the land of Samsung and SK Telecom) will serve as a 5G laboratory. Expect to see 5G “experiments” all over your TV, tablet, and phone. These will be revolutionary deployments that will one day be routine, such as drones following Lindsey Vonn down the hill.
Wearables: The future is 5G for wearables, whether it be watches or smartglasses, or an evolved FitBit.
What does all of this mean for you and your company? In non-tech terms: EVERYTHING.
Whole business models will be upended and scrambled by the speed of 5G. If you want to sample the future, just head to Sacramento this year. And make sure you have a partner like Kinettix that can help you get the right techs in place for your next telecommunications rollout.
