Editorial

Greetings friends,

Voice & Data successfully conducted the 5G Evolution: Fast Tracking 5G event recently.

It was great to hear about what the 5G economy is going to be all about. 5G is going to be the foundation of what’s going to be next. Folks talked about how 5G’s full economic benefit should be realized across the globe by around 2035. There are a variety of use cases for 5G. In massive machine type communication, it should find a place in IoT, smart meters, tracking fleet management, etc. In critical machine type communication, 5G will find use in the industrial applications, traffic safety and control and remote manufacturing.

For enhanced mobile broadband, there are Internet/applications, VR/AR, UHD video and new smartphones. Fixed wireless aceess should see use in stationary, portable and transportable applications, enterprises, home and replace fibre access. 5G will dramatically impact the acceleration of use AI/ML, Blockchain technologies in the relevant fields.

In India, the wider the channels, with more bandwidth, will allow operators to design easier cost plans and offer higher capacity to the end users with multiple services. If they have additional spectrum for nationwide coverage, they should aim to possibly offer unlimited 5G data plans.

5G is not B2C, it’s about B2B, such as smart city, driverless cars, etc. Primarily because of the density and capacity required, in the initial phase, 5G is going to be a B2B enterprise game. Another aspect of 5G is the ability to take it to the rural areas such as in smart agriculture. We need to open the spectrum to more operators and avoid monopolisation of 5G by some companies. We need to revamp the skillforce to be able to handle 5G technology. We also need to impart the skills to do things in the right manner.

Right now, we have not fully utilised 4G. 5G disruption is a bit far away from us.

Pradeep Chakraborty

Editor pradeepc@cybermedia.co.in