Connected devices, AR/VR set to flourish with the introduction of 5G

India’s data traffic is estimated to increase significantly over the next few years. Frost & Sullivan’s analysis indicates that monthly data usage per smartphone in India is expected to increase to 18 GB by 2023. The total mobile traffic/month is likely to reach 14 exabytes in the same period. This surge requires a 5G network to cope with the massive jump in data traffic.

While India is not expected to witness the commercial launch of 5G networks until 2022, it is set to have an integral role to play across industries. The Department of Telecommunications recently allocated the 5G trial spectrum to Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea.

The most significant advantage of 5G will be the fact that it facilitates faster download and upload speeds. Latency, or the time it takes devices to communicate with wireless networks, will also significantly decrease. It is a departure from previous generations, particularly in latency, data rate, and handling of multiple devices.

One of the perks of the introduction of 5G will be its benefit across a broad range of industries; the use-case, however, may vary from industry to industry. Companies in the automotive, logistics, and manufacturing sectors will be the significant adopters of 5G services in India.

5G in agriculture, healthcare, and retail also has a significant opportunity with specific historical barriers.

5G use-cases would lead to myriad opportunities. Here are some of the expecta­tions and applications (use-cases) from 5G services:

Scaling IoT. The ability of 5G to connect 1 million devices for every square kilometer will make it the backbone for IoT devices and overall connected ecosystems. 5G will help utilities cut costs, enable public safety organizations to improve citizen experience, and help manufacturers reach peak productivity.

Smart and connected devices. With above 6 GHz, 5G will effectively enable to reach desired speeds and benefits of data flows and increase the competitiveness of artificial intelligence (AI). As it connects millions of devices, these connected devices at offices and commercial establish­ments will boost productivity. Its logistics and supply chain application will help in real-time tracking, resulting in significant OpEx (operating expenditure) savings.

Industrial automation and fleet telematics. 5G technology will reduce latency to as low as one millisecond (ms), thus enabling more excellent remote management capability for power plant management that relies on this instantaneous communication. It will also help with fleet telematics and in managing fleets and commercial vehicles and autonomous vehicle operations.

Increased collaboration and gaming. 5G speeds will also enable fast multi-player games. 5G will also help handle tens of Tbps/km² traffic volume density enabling real-time collaboration.

Boost AR/VR. With 5G, augmented/virtual reality is expected to thrive and find use-cases across multiple industry verticals. 10× increase in throughput – 10× decrease in latency will enable real-life experience, according to our analysis.

Smart grid. With the onset of 5G, a significant increase in critical network service availability will drive demand response automation in the smart grid.

New revenue streams, super customer experience, and more. 5G will help enterprises spawn new revenue streams, make operations efficient and enhance customer experience. With 5G, enterprises could unleash new business models via massive data, obtained through the sensors, creating new revenue streams through rapid innovation. The quality of the decision-making driven by the real-time data will be enhanced.

5G will provide superior customer experience and cost performance, led by automation and AI-driven operations and optimization. Organizations can expect a reduction in operational expenditures by more than 30 percent. It will also decrease the manual order interventions, and enable better omnichannel digital customer interactions on different platforms.