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Justifying the Upgrade


 Publish Date :2022/03/09


A report from PwC shows that 5G is gaining interest among enterprise users, but not so much among individual users; many of whom are generally satisfied with the current connection they have. A recent article in datanami stated that 5G adoption seems to have stalled or at least underperformed compared to industry expectations. Current trends suggest that the individual users are more ambivalent or neutral towards 5G and while they have expectations from the new network, they are not quite sure whether these expectations can be met with 5G.

In addition, as of time of writing there does not seem to be any special technology, application, or function that can be realized with 5G alone. Most of them can use 4G or other legacy networks although perhaps not as optimized. As such, 5G currently seems to function more as a supplement or facilitator for existing technologies. Given what currently exists, perhaps the more pressing questions will be whether the features made possible by 5G are worth the upgrade, where the most significant upgrades will take place, and who will benefit the most from it.

This article will be the final part of a special 3-part COMPUTEX special report focusing on 5G and its applications. Based on the COMPUTEX Symposium - Towards the Beyond 5G Era: Innovative Communications Services & Applications in the Industry; this edition aims to provide a broader, yet comprehensive coverage on 5G applications that might be a significant starting point for a wider adoption of 5G.

Applications Made Possible by 5G

At the moment, many users feel that 4G connections are enough for their uses and upgrading to 5G might not yet be necessary. Certainly the 3 features of 5G; namely high speed, low latency, and mass connectivity are generally considered good. However, for the average users the degree of improvement might be well beyond what they would currently need. For example, Ericsson reported that the average monthly individual data usage is approximately 11.4 GB by the end of 2021 and is expected to increase to 41GB by the end of 2027. In comparison, according to tom's guide; the average download speed for 5G is approximately 116.3 to 187.1 Mbps depending on the provider. This means a 5G user can reach the average monthly data usage of 2021 in 500 to 800 seconds or about 8 to 14 minutes.

An article by Thales Group stated that its peak, 5G is expected to reach a speed of 10 Gbps with less than 1ms latency and according to CIO is able to connect 1 million devices in a 1 square kilometer area. The same article also reported that the main usage of 5G will focus on IoT applications which benefit from the mass connectivity feature. Some of the use cases listed are more focused towards organization or even government level users such as smart systems, connected/ autonomous vehicles, etc.

Individual and organizational users might focus on different aspects of 5G as their use cases will not be the same. For individual users who might not have too many devices connecting to an access point, high speed and low latency will be more appealing while mass connectivity might not be the focus of their upgrade justification. Organizational users too will not have the same focus as for example smart manufacturing might not need high connection speed, but will benefit greatly from the low latency and mass connectivity.

Perhaps the main benefit of 5G is the different opportunities made possible by its inherent characteristic. By adopting 5G, users will have the resources for different applications or improve their experience with existing technologies and applications. At the end of the day, only the user can determine whether they truly need the upgrade; but there are of course certain benefits that are user-agnostic.

Flexibility for 5G

The symposium listed a few applications where 5G applications will bring significant improvements including: smart manufacturing, smart city, smart agriculture, autonomous vehicles, AR/VR, UAVs, etc. However, it is important to remember that for all of the benefits listed for 5G, it still has a relatively limited coverage and penetration power which may bring some questions on connection stability. This list then brings about an interesting question: why would 5G be used for many applications in a wide area if the connections are rather limited in range and coverage?

The 5G connection in the general populace’s mind is focused on 5G mmWave that features exponential improvement to 4G in terms of speed, latency, and connectivity as well as the one more susceptible to interference and instability. On the other hand, sub-6 GHz connections offer higher stability and connectivity, but might not impress as much as mmWave while it still performs better compared to 4G. The 2 options provide more flexibility for providers as well as users as they can choose the connection they want rather than what they can get.

Given the wide array of usage, certain applications might be able to function with reduced capacity of one aspect or another. For example, smart manufacturing might be able to function well with mmWave because it is used in an enclosed area with fixed procedures and predictable movements. High speed and low latency might be more relevant metrics to the connection compared to stable and uninterrupted line of sight connection. As a result, standard mmWave connection with 5G small cells should be enough to create a well-functioning smart manufacturing system. Sub-6 GHz will benefit more for outdoor use such as for individual users with their mobile devices. As a majority of the users will be mobile, a network that provides larger coverage will also benefit providers as they will not need to install so many access points.

A question to pose on this issue is what will happen when the connection needs the high speed, low latency, and mass connectivity; but is intended for outdoor application? After all, these are the requirements for autonomous driving to ensure the safety of the passengers as well as pedestrians, other vehicles, and other elements. This is where 5G benefits from the multiple access point options available to the providers. The options for 5G access points include base stations, small cells, and even LEO satellites. The options will be able to provide wider and overlapping coverage; making sure users and devices are always within range of the connection.

Conclusion

GSMA reported 7 use cases where the impact of 5G will be most significant: subways, stadiums, wind farms, construction, smart cities, robots, and drones. In these applications, the main function of 5G remains as a connectivity network, but the way 5G facilitates greater capabilities in technologies is much more important. Examples include: allowing surveillance drones to relay real-time data to edge servers to track operations information; remote inspection via image recognition enabled robots; and more. All of these applications point out to the reality that 5G will be more than just a way for individuals to connect to the network.

It is perhaps closer to being a method for enabling systematic upgrades across industries and ecosystems. This is perhaps one of the biggest differences between 5G and the previous generations of connectivity which mostly benefit the individual users. 5G today brings capabilities that a single user will benefit from, but it seems unlikely that a single user will maximize their 5G utilization. On the other hand, organizations, companies, public service, and other institutional users that will congregate numerous devices and users will be able to provide them all with adequate high-speed connectivity.

For many countries and regions, 5G upgrades will happen soon and telecom providers and governments seem to be trying to justify the high initial costs for investment. It is important to note that while the world as a whole is becoming more interconnected, it also means any competitive edge can re-draw the balances of power. Upgrading to 5G will benefit organizations first before individual users can truly benefit from the new connectivity networks.

Watch the full forum video in the COMPUTEX V Youtube Channel.

The speakers featured in the forum were: Mr. Wei-Gan Su, Industry Analyst of MIC; Mr. Chung-Yung Chia, Vice President of Chunghwa Telecom; Mr. Allen Yang, International Strategy Center Analyst of ITRI; and Mr. Steve Huang PhD, Senior VP of PEGATRON.

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