2019: The Year of 5G Has Finally Arrived

There are a number of fantastic wireless industry conferences and events taking place around the globe every year. This past June, the 5G World Summit took place in London and just a few weeks ago was MWC Los Angeles. Many of the Md7 team members were on hand for these events and eager to share their thoughts. 

While there were many different topics and tracks at these events, there was one very clear and consistent theme throughout: 5G. The global telecom industry is moving rapidly with the rollout of the 5G and we believe it’s safe to say that 2019 has officially become “The Year of 5G”.

2019 in 5G: Deployments Today, Tomorrow and Beyond

Naturally, some of the discussions were focused on the technology and the solutions present – meaning the antennas, infrastructure, testing and measurement opportunities, and more. However, one of the big themes was focused on not just the tangible business cases for 5G today, but the potential applications that will exist in the very near future. 

There are so many industries that are ripe for disruption such as retail, healthcare, farming, and even home services. The phrase Internet of Things was mentioned quite a bit. IoT powered devices and their associated applications will benefit significantly from 5G.

There’s an incredible amount of excitement within the wireless industry around redefining what is possible today and what will be made possible with the arrival of 5G.

Let’s look at a company like Uber for example. App-based solutions like Uber rose out of the innovations that were really only made possible after 4G and similar wireless communications technologies rolled out in 2010. While Uber was founded in 2009, the proliferation of mobile devices on 4G really helped usher in the adoption and success of Uber. Determining what 5G will itself help give birth to is a large part of the excitement surrounding events like this one.

A number of additional important topics were discussed, including:

  • Standardization of infrastructure and more network sharing as viable ways to balance cost and growth.
  • The emergence of multiple service platforms, from the Internet of Things to application enablement to artificial reality, gaming and more.
  • Operational challenges will no doubt continue to grow, which means that mobile network operators and similar carriers around the world will need to develop new solutions to address the exponential increases in complexity.

Looking Forward: The Shape of Things to Come

All throughout the event, one thing was abundantly clear: while 2019 is undoubtedly the year of 5G, there’s still a lot of work to be done. 5G deployments are very targeted at the present moment – meaning by location, by spectrum frequency, or by the solutions offered. Over time, operators will need to embrace a continued level of expansion and growth. Regardless, frequency auctions for the 5G spectrum are still taking place – and the future is absolutely a lot closer than many of us realize.

November 14, 2019
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