Connectivity is everything - with gadgets, apps, techno-cars, and smartphones helping us stay connected 24x7, it is hard to imagine a world without it.
With advances in 5G technology making it the new benchmark, 4G is soon to be obsolete. Its technology promises to deliver speeds of around 10 gigabits per second to your phone and with it, businesses will be able to work on technologies at a rapid pace and deliver better experiences to their clients. Once 5G arrives at scale, it will mean new opportunities for businesses that span diverse areas.
Below are five trends for connectivity in the age of intelligence:
#1: Connected Smart Cities
IDC forecasts worldwide spending on smart cities initiatives to reach US$95.8 billion in 2019 - an increase of 17.7% over 2018 - and APAC represents over 40% of the total global expenditure. Singapore is a great example to showcase this. The country won the City Award at the Smart City Expo World Congress in 2018 and is the top city - followed by NYC, Tokyo and London - that will have spent more money on smart city projects in 2019.
Smart Cities will enjoy the advantages of the new-age network with an ever-increasing number of sensors. 5G will empower more extensive applications in smart cities from water and waste administration and traffic monitoring to enhanced medical services. Not only will 5G be equipped to deal with the daunting information load, but it will also be able to integrate different smart and intelligent systems to build connected cities.
#2: Age of ‘Pilotisation’ - Deeper pilot projects between technology and telecom companies
The tech titans have heavily invested in deep technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI). Companies are aware that 5G will soon be a reality and acquisitions are being made to complement and leverage the large data speeds. It’s simple - the more devices connected to 5G networks, the more data flows. All you would have to do is to feed this data into AI models for effective applications.
These consumer Internet giants rely extensively on large data speeds to enable seamless UX to attract more users. Imagine a 16-year-old accessing Facebook in the remotest town of India with 5G coming in.
In the coming years, we expect more and more tech giants to work on deep pilots involving telecom companies delivering 5G in India.
Projjol Banerjea,
CPO & Co-Founder,
Zeotap
#3: The ‘millimeter-wave’ factor for connectivity
The smartphone has been driving our lives for some time now: every possible task is doable via the handheld device or an app on the device. However, a reliable coverage and fast network are crucial to ensuring a good experience for video calls or movies.
Millimeter technology is the new wave for the bandwidth-hungry applications of tomorrow. In layman terms, it’s like many 4G spectrums running in parallel to deliver superior data quality and speed. In the US, companies like Verizon are already investing in ‘millimeter-wave technology’ and it’s a matter of time India jumps on it too.
#4: The “Tangible Internet”
The Internet will get real with 5G. “With nine billion connections globally, mobile is one of the most broadly conveyed innovation platforms ever”, Global Digital 2019 reports.
The smartphone and app revolution has given rise to new ways of telecommunication to collect and use data. Coupled with the rise of 5G's low bandwidth, data will continue to be a growing trend that shapes telecommunications in 2020.
5G will, likewise, shake up the framework of the mobile industry. It will not only enable you to watch Netflix flawlessly on your smart device, but it will also be the platform on which a new generation of innovation will be invented. In simple terms, you will be able to get closer to AR and VR experiences with 5G, enabling it as a real-world function.
#5: Chatbots: the perfect marriage of 5G and AI
Chatbots are invisible robots that conduct a conversation with a client via audio or text, often designed to convincingly simulate humans. It is also one of the key tools used by companies for ongoing customer engagement and customer support, especially the client-facing ones. They can help with scheduling, reminders, queries and other types of engagements, which has also become a way to understand consumer behavior patterns.
5G or the fifth-generation technology will enable a rise in real-time and improved AI during these conversations, giving birth to the creation of larger datasets. These datasets can later be fed into your AI machine to improve learning and enhance the customer experience.
