Yes, wireless carriers are talking up the consumer 5G dream, but the reality is that the real use cases are going to be all about the enterprise out of the gate.
The 5G race is well underway and rest assured you’ll see a lot of hype, a few new devices with better bandwidth and promises that likely won’t be delivered until 2020 at the earliest. But don’t get distracted: 5G will be a business event first.
Recent comments from wireless chieftains illustrate how they’re thinking about 5G. A few lessons include:
- There’s a push to be first in 5G and have services up, but scale will come with more standards based approaches.
- Carriers and smartphone makers will talk up 5G, but a wide rollout of devices may not land until 2020.
- 5G is described as a 3- to 5-year time horizon to really make a big bang.
- Carriers think 5G can replace fixed line broadband.
- 5G private networks may be built by enterprises looking to upgrade their networks, according to Gartner.
- If you’re thinking about real use cases for 5G think enterprises over consumers.
That latter point–enterprise use cases–is worth pondering. 5G will enable more business models, the Internet of things, analytics, smart cities, even blockchain and its impact on multiple industries. For now, 5G is likely to be all business. In a December research note, Gartner said that 5G may be used as a network backbone for private enterprise broadband upgrades.
Why all the business focus when it comes to 5G? The consumer use case for 5G is a little tricky. For starters, carriers beyond more speed and streaming video haven’t made the case for 5G. In addition, the price for 5G is also to be determined. And consumer behavior has changed. Consumers are stretching out smartphone purchases, questioning the price for premium ratio and looking toward other devices.
IDC reported that smartphone vendors shipped 375.4 million units in the fourth quarter, down 4.9 percent from a year ago. Interesting, eh? The fourth quarter marked the fifth consecutive quarter of declines. IDC called the smartphone market a mess. Samsung saw units fall 5.5 percent in the fourth quarter and Apple shipments fell 11.5 percent.
In contrast, 5G looks like a no-brainer for the enterprise. Here’s a look at the enterprise use cases for 5G via Gartner.
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Wireless carriers are talking up the consumer 5G dream, but the reality is that the real use cases are going to be all about the enterprise out of the gate.
The 5G race is well underway and rest assured you’ll see a lot of hype, including carriers miss characterizing its actual name ie 5Ge to get a lead on the rest of the market whether real or not. Building off the challenges, need and overwhelming want to add a few new devices with better bandwidth and promises that likely won’t be delivered until 2020 at the earliest. But don’t get distracted: 5G will be a business event first.
Recent comments from wireless chieftains illustrate how they’re thinking about 5G. A few lessons include:
- There’s a push to be first in 5G and have services up, but scale will come with more standards based approaches.
- Carriers and smartphone makers will talk up 5G, but a wide rollout of devices may not land until 2020.
- 5G is described as a 3- to 5-year time horizon to really make a big bang.
- Carriers think 5G can replace fixed line broadband.
- 5G private networks may be built by enterprises looking to upgrade their networks, according to Gartner.
- If you’re thinking about real use cases for 5G think enterprises over consumers.
That latter point–enterprise use cases–is worth pondering. 5G will enable more business models, the Internet of things, analytics, smart cities, even blockchain and its impact on multiple industries. For now, 5G is likely to be all business. In a December research note, Gartner said that 5G may be used as a network backbone for private enterprise broadband upgrades.
Why all the business focus when it comes to 5G? The consumer use case for 5G is a little tricky. For starters, carriers beyond more speed and streaming video haven’t made the case for 5G. In addition, the price for 5G is also to be determined. And consumer behavior has changed. Consumers are stretching out smartphone purchases, questioning the price for premium ratio and looking toward other devices.
IDC reported that smartphone vendors shipped 375.4 million units in the fourth quarter, down 4.9 percent from a year ago. Interesting, eh? The fourth quarter marked the fifth consecutive quarter of declines. IDC called the smartphone market a mess. Samsung saw units fall 5.5 percent in the fourth quarter and Apple shipments fell 11.5 percent.
In contrast, 5G looks like a no-brainer for the enterprise. Gartner states that the features of 5G will change enterprise networking, so a great opportunity is about to be presented.
In a shift from traditional cellular deployments, organizations will benefit from private network deployments that replace or augment campus Wi-Fi networks and wired in-building networks for applications such as factory automation and surveillance.But simply put, 5G is going to enable a lot more than binge watching on your smartphone or over IP in your home.That is a bigger issue than what has been discussed. Logistics for 5G is a big deal. Deployments, municipal installation, hurdles and sheer expense. The technology is here, getting it to all is now the greatest challenge.So, our distribution networks are on their way to deliver seamless interaction for blockchain, media/entertainment/video and more with 5G, even broadcasters partnering too with ATSC 3.0. There will be a gold rush soon in the grand scheme, but probably not as soon as the evangelists would like you to believe.