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5G Is Closer Than You Think, And Here’s How It Will Change The World

To make IoT-enabled technology a reality, we need 5G.

5G Is Closer Than You Think, And Here’s How It Will Change The World

This article is a sponsored feature by Qualcomm

The real challenge for the Internet of Things (IoT) isn’t security or cost, but sheer scale. Take an example of millions of autonomous cars, each with a couple of IoT devices on board to manage the engine and electronics, tracking and mapping systems and infotainment. All these IoT devices will be connected to various servers. Now imagine if today’s 3G or 4G mobile services powered them? You would have network blank spots every few minutes, causing chaos.

Or take what happens when you disembark after a flight into a crowded immigration hall, or at an IPL match or concert with thousands of other people. It’s often tough to even get a tweet out in such densely-packed places. That’s because thousands of users are connected to the same cellular tower. Surely, IoT is a bad dream in such scenarios, when you consider that IoT projections state that we will have around 50 billion connected devices by 2020. In fact, even that massive number seems conservative today. To put it quite simply, existing 3G and 4G networks are simply not designed to cope with the IoT revolution, which will include autonomous cars, robots in factories, smart cities, virtual reality immersive experiences, smart public transport, remote healthcare, and much more.

Steve Mollenkopf, chief executive officer of Qualcomm Inc. (Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg)
Steve Mollenkopf, chief executive officer of Qualcomm Inc. (Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg)

To make the future possible, to make IoT and the awesome potential of IoT-enabled technology a reality, we need 5G. We need a world where connectivity is like the air we breathe — ubiquitous, ever-present and never failing. Though not a very precise comparison, it’s a bit like electricity, which powered the modern industrial revolution. If you don’t have electricity, everything comes to a standstill – from homes, to factories, busy airports to railways.

While 3G has meant faster access, and 4G has given us even better reliability and speed. To keep up with the demands of use cases like IoT, 5G technology needs to be built from a wholly different mettle. While 5G will definitely feature a quantum increase in communication speeds and lower latency, it’s not about mere ‘faster’ alone, but about absolute transformation — metaphorically, moving to 5G from today’s mobile networks will be like going from black & white to colour or from reality to virtual reality. Quite simply, it will be a transformation in connectivity and communication the world has never seen before.

Qualcomm readies itself for 5G with these technological breakthroughs (Source: Qualcomm.com)
Qualcomm readies itself for 5G with these technological breakthroughs (Source: Qualcomm.com)

Circle back to the IPL match where you could barely send a tweet because thousands of others were connected to the same cellular tower; in 5G, thanks to a decentralized approach, it would be as if each user has his or her own tower with ample bandwidth to connect to. Even from a crowded stadium you could stream HD video with ease. That’s how 50 or even a 100 billion IoT devices can be connected through a communication fabric that is constantly available, instantly scalable and highly secure. Distance will collapse, the world will be served up on-demand. Access will become a fundamental feature of our lives in the age of 5G; always-on, context aware and intelligent, thanks to the use of Artificial Intelligence technologies that will complement 5G.

And if you think mobile has already changed the world, you haven’t seen the beginning yet. 5G will actually be the wind that powers mobile to change the world like never before. That’s because 5G will bring new opportunities with increased speed, reliability, high-availability and security. It will catalyse the creation of new products and services that have yet to be invented, increase productivity, make education far more accessible – new industries will emerge as 5G becomes reality.

5G to Generate $3.5 trillion in Revenue in 2035, says Qualcomm Study (Source: Qualcomm.com)
5G to Generate $3.5 trillion in Revenue in 2035, says Qualcomm Study (Source: Qualcomm.com)

Take remote healthcare for instance — remote surgeries are still in the realm of strictly controlled experiments; in the age of 5G they will be daily reality because surgeons, healthcare professionals and even patients can trust that connectivity will not fail, that latency will be extremely low and that surgical outcomes will never be impacted by communications failure. In a country like India with young demographics, this means a whole breed of new entrepreneurs will take flight in areas like automotive, healthcare, manufacturing, entertainment and helping the government deliver citizen services. According to an IHS 5G economic impact study, by 2035, industries from retail to education, transportation to entertainment, and everything in between, could produce up to $12.3 trillion worth of goods and services enabled by 5G mobile technology. The 5G mobile value chain could generate up to $3.5 trillion in revenue and support up to 22 million jobs.

Does that mean you need to wait till 2035? 5G is closer than you think. Qualcomm, the R&D engine of the communications and technology industry, and the pioneer of 3G and 4G, is working towards enabling 5G while continuously enhancing today’s LTE and Wi-Fi networks. Qualcomm and allied mobile industry leaders, including AT&T, NTT DOCOMO, SK Telecom, Vodafone, and Ericsson, have committed that the global 5G standard (5G New Radio) will be ready for large-scale trials and deployments starting 2019; just around two years from now. Qualcomm is also the leader in smartphone processors with the Snapdragon family, which means that availability of both the backend, the network and the end-point devices that can leverage 5G will align perfectly. Closer home, the Indian government is preparing to auction 5G spectrum in 2018, which means that India should be among the first countries to benefit from the massive technology and economic advances that 5G will bring.

5G is closer than you think. Get excited about not just using 5G, but leveraging it for your business, your education, and perhaps even to create a whole new set of products and services around it.

Qualcomm's technologies powered the smartphone revolution and connected billions of people. We pioneered 3G and 4G - and now we are leading the way to 5G and a new era of intelligent,connected devices. Our products are revolutionizing industries, including automotive, computing,IoT, healthcare and data center, and are allowing millions of devices to connect with each other in ways never before imagined. For more information, visit Qualcomm website.