Latin America. After intense anticipation and industry preparation, commercial networks for 5G finally begin to become available. Late 2018 saw the initial rollout of 5G with a handful of fixed wireless access access (FWA) accesses from Verizon's likes. This year, 5G mobile network launches will take place around the world, including the United States, China, South Korea, Japan, and several Middle Eastern countries.
As a successor to 4G LTE, 5G is positioned to transform virtually every aspect of everyday life. However, one of six transformative technologies studied by the Digital Orbit briefing, 5G was considered the least prepared for large-scale adoption by industries such as healthcare and manufacturing.
5G matters, but we're not there yet
5G is significant because it provides three compelling advantages: faster data rates, lower latency, and greater connectivity. These capabilities will enable new use cases, such as driverless cars, immersive entertainment, lag-free virtual reality, seamless video, and latency-free gaming. On the industrial front, 5G will be key to expanding and realizing the full promise of the Internet of Things (IoT), and its impact will be felt in smart homes, smart cities and smart industries.
But while initial launches of the 5G network have begun, many key features of the technology won't be immediately available. The implementation of the 5G network in 2019 will largely focus on the Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) element of 5G, which in many ways is an extension of the capabilities that already exist with 4G LTE and LTE Advanced.
The launch of the widest range of 5G capabilities will develop gradually over the next few years. For example, ultra-reliable, low-latency communications (URLLC), which will allow 5G to support mission-critical applications such as autonomous vehicles, are unlikely to be developed before 2020. Similarly, the first 5G specifications for Massive IoT are not scheduled to be completed until early next year.
Given this extended timeline, it's not surprising that digital orbit readiness ratings for 5G vary widely by industry. With its focus on eMBB, the attributes of initial 5G launches are closely aligned with the needs of the telecom and consumer sectors. For industries such as healthcare and manufacturing, future 5G capabilities will be the most relevant, and only with these features will 5G be ready for adoption in these industries.
Where, from here?
The market implicitly understands that 5G represents an unprecedented growth opportunity, with the projected initial launch of 5G smartphones set to generate record shipping volumes. What many don't realize, however, is that deploying 5G is a process that involves multiple major updates, with these updates adding new capabilities over time.
Each release will also offer new challenges and opportunities in each industry for which new use cases are envisaged. The launch will likely trigger a race among mobile network operators to take advantage of the performance improvements presented by 5G. Future revisions will spur similar competitive battles, with the expansion of 5G into other markets beyond mobile communications, such as mission-critical applications and massive IoT deployments.
For companies along the technology supply chain, from network operators, to smartphone brands, industrial and automotive device manufacturers, and electronics suppliers, understanding the changes introduced by each phase of 5G deployment will be extremely important.
This way, businesses can take advantage of the latest capabilities that made 5G possible to gain a competitive advantage, or risk being left behind.
Report by IHS Markit.
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