5G – ‘Internet of Skills’ or Just Another Upsell?

Once again, we are at the crossroads with the different facets of the technology where we do not just have to wait for another two years but also have to decide about the use of this upcoming technology, whether it is constructive or is it just another upsell?! We are talking about none other than the fifth generation of the mobile communications, the innovation of which started years back claiming to have ultra-high speed as compared to the fourth generation technology. The work done in minutes will now be done in seconds or even better, milliseconds!

As easy it might seem right now to talk about the technology yet unforeseen, there is still a long road ahead with all the research & development combined with new telecommunications regulatory rules and protocols that are required to set the standards for the deployment of 5G mobile network. All types of global and niche industry players to all kinds of enterprises do not want to be left behind and are actively pouring their resources in research and development related to 5G networks and its testing. Some of these industry giants are Nokia, Qualcomm, AT&T, Orange, NEC Corporation, Verizon, Reliance India and Ericsson among others.

To bring down the fuss, 5G is going to be a better and an ultra-faster version of the earlier generation of mobile communication and is also believed to have backward compatibility with 4G. From 2G to 4G, we have seen the evolution of the voice data, text, picture & multimedia messages to being able to watch high definition videos with utmost speed. With its own frequency band, 5G is believed to be way faster than the 4G along with reducing the data transfer delays. Both small and large scale firms will have the advantage of setting up their private 5G network with their own specifications that will hone the communication within the firms more productive and reliable. 5G is not just limited to the speed or just one field of technology but a lot more as it is going to transform the way we communicate and learn things.

With 5G coming into the picture, there are many end-user industries to benefit especially in compliance with booming technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and IoT (Internet of Things) among others. The rapid increase in the never ending technological developments in the Internet of Things (IoT) has led to the worldwide connectivity of smart devices and the development of smart cities so as to improve the lives of the people. To have that kind of advancement requires large amount of cloud storage and uninterrupted level of connectivity which will hopefully have 5G to its rescue by 2020.

In coming years, people can expect to witness the wonders of 5G and IoT that are believed to massively reform the overall working of many industries such as healthcare, education, media and music among other industries owing to its high reliability and ultra-low latency breaches. These technological evolutions are considered to enhance the response time of the communication. A lot of medical companies are revealing new opportunities for healthcare providers as well as opening up new solutions by investing in research and development activities in healthcare industry. With the help of the technologically advanced wearable medical devices in a highly responsive network such as 5G would help to monitor the health statistics of the patients without them needing to be actually present at the hospital, which will further help the cost cutting related to visiting or staying at the hospitals. The main eye opener of 5G in the medical field is being able to perform remote surgeries that are no longer dependent on the geographical distance. As surreal it might sound but with the responsiveness of 5G and almost no transmission lag, it is now possible to perform remote robotic surgeries. It is a big step forward in the field of telemedicine.

These miraculous wonders don’t just end there, with that kind of precise control and instant transmission of the sense of touch; there are a lot of possibilities that are predicted to blossom under the realms of 5G. This transmission of hand movements and the outcome with the sense of touch is achieved with the help of haptic gloves, of course on the back of low latency provided by 5G. From healthcare industry to transportation, learning music to the usage of drones in agriculture or providing medical assistance in threat invaded areas with almost negligible availability of transportation or the functioning of autonomous cars to many other similar developments, there is a high dependency on the internet with lightning speeds. That would require the involvement of 5G due to its pervasive reactive network and coverage.

Despite the advancement in 5G technology, we are still afar as there is a lot of work left to design the required infrastructure to meet the requirements of 5G and go through the obligatory tests so as to qualify the signal standards by telecommunication regulatory boards to establish a standard frequency band for the implementation of 5G. Around mid-2016, Tom Wheeler, Chairman-Federal Communications Commission said, "If anyone tells you they know the details of what 5G will deliver, walk the other way." But as of today, 5G is more than just a sliver of an idea but nevertheless, to know it all, I guess we still have to wait for it to come into existence and experience it for ourselves!