REGIONAL mobile operators should start preparing the groundwork now for the fifth-generation (5G) wireless broadband technology even though commercial rollout will only start in 2020.
Sweden-based telecommunications specialist Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (Ericsson) senior vice- president and chief technology officer Ulf Ewaldsson said regional telecommunication companies (telcos) should start planning on the business transition and the usage of 5G technology.
“I don’t mean they need to start to look at the investment, but they need to start to think about the business transition to get the usage of 5G technology,” he said in an interview.
On Tuesday, Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (SingTel) and Ericsson completed a live demonstration on the potential of 5G via a video titled “Making 5G Innovation A Reality”.
The demonstration featured Ericsson’s 5G Radio Prototypes showcasing the capabilities of the new technology, which offers a peak throughput of 27.5 gigabits per second (Gbps) and latency as low as two milliseconds (ms).
SingTel and Ericsson also demonstrated a low latency live video streaming over 5G, from the time it was captured from the server end to the time it was displayed at the device.
As 5G offers greater throughput and lower latency, it will enable more usage capabilities for Internet of Things (IoT) applications.
The 5G technology enables massive connectivity, allowing new applications for consumers and enterprises, such as smart vehicles and transport architecture, cloud-based offices and multi-person videoconferencing, machine-to-machine connectivity like automated traffic lights and disaster response systems, tele-medicine or remote healthcare, and new levels of human-IoT interaction.
Ewaldsson said 5G’s speed could reach up to 27 Gbps and a latency of less than 5ms.
“We are meeting a new online and gaming requirements and... the requirements for remote robotics or hectic development, which you get feedback loops from hand-controlling a joystick or something like that for the industrial usage,” he said.
In Malaysia, Ewaldsson said, the number of spectrum allocated today was not sufficient for 5G or even for an extreme use of LTE — the current 4G mobile communications standard.
“This industry is spectrum-dependent. It is very important for government to find fair distribution methods to be able to distribute spectrum in a good way between people who are really building the network.
“We, in Ericsson, has many times advocated that one should be careful not to take out too much tax or too high fees for spectrum.
“It is actually a competitive advantage for the society, in order to have enough infrastructure deployment that can help other businesses to realise their potential. In 5G, we are looking at using new spectrum which are beyond six gigahertz,”Ewaldsson said.
According to the latest Ericsson Mobility Report, there will be 150 million 5G mobile subscriptions by 2021.
Countries like South Korea, Japan, China and the United States are expected to lead with the first and fastest 5G subscription.
The report further states that 5G will connect new types of devices, enabling new use cases related to IoT and this transition will open up new industries for information and communications technology (ICT) transformation.
ICT and Sustainability Agenda
Ewaldsson said ICT played a very important role for Malaysia’s and the world’s sustainability agenda, which includes lowering carbon dioxide (CO2) ignitions and cleaner water.
“The CO2 footprint in the whole ICT sector, including cloud developments, IT (information technology) developments, companies as well as all mobile operators, is not more than two per cent of the world CO2 ignition.
“Here, ICT can play a role to be able to address the (other) 98 per cent, like how it helped the transport sector to lower its CO2 ignition.”
Ewaldsson said in order to achieve this, the public and private sectors needed to work together.
“Governments can no longer work in silo. We see chief information officers’ (CIOs) role given utmost importance, even at the government level, where you have a digitalisation officer or someone who is responsible to coordinate the activities.
“Even so, it is pointless just to have a lot of activities. You need some level of coordination to get to the goals,” he added.
Ewaldsson said Malaysia was one of the power houses in this part of the world and IoT was a fast-rowing business.
He viewed that the ICT was transforming the country’s industry and society.
“I am sure the number of connected devices is growing by the day. The automotive industry and other industries, here, are looking at IoT. Sensors are one of the fastest growing technologies, which means a lot of opportunities to build new businesses and create more sustainable developments.
“I believe most Malaysians have a Whatsapp group for work. It is an example of taking an application to improve efficiency and teamwork within your company. This is an example of ICT being used.. to keep your files and pictures up in the cloud,” he said.
Ewaldsson said the demand was high in Malaysia as anywhere in Southeast Asia; in fact, the highest in terms of usage of social media and other applications. “You will see a fantastic trajectory and lots of opportunities for growth in the next two years.”
Earlier this week, Celcom Axiata said it would announce its 5G testing results earliest by October.
The telco said it was confident that its 5G technology would be ready by the time the global introduction of the new network standard took place and was hopeful it was on track to meet the set launch target.
“After the 4G modernisation exercise is done in October, we will look at the findings of 5G and the right spectrum and optimisation. Then we will announce it (5G testing results) separately,” Celcom chief executive officer Datuk Seri Shazalli Ramly was quoted as saying.
Other global companies such as ZTE Corp and Huawei Technologies have also kick-started their 5G testing with the first trial expected to begin in 2018.
It was also reported that South Korean telco KT would be among the first to bring 5G technology to mobile phones by 2018 as it aimed to maintain its position as the earliest adopter of new network technology.
Video is King
According to the Ericsson Mobility Report, there is a significant increase in mobile video consumption, which is driving about six times higher traffic volumes per smartphone in North America and Europe from 2015 to 2021.
North America data traffic per active smartphone is expected to grow from 3.8 gigabytes (GB) to 22GB per month by 2021 and in Western Europe, the increase should be from 2GB to 18GB per month.
With 20 new mobile broadband subscriptions activated every second, global increase in mobile subscriptions are another clear driver for data traffic growth.
Ewaldsson said bandwidth had a big impact on the economy and there was a strong connection between higher bandwidth and economic growth.
“It is also an opportunity for companies to use the technology in the new ways. In another words, there would be no Netflix if the bandwidth was not enough to transmit television over online,” he said .
Ewaldsson said the 5G technology might be launched earlier than 2020.
“We are going to meet the timelines that were setting out, which will be in trials and testing in 2017 and launch at 2018.”
Ewaldsson was optimistic about Ericsson’s ability to to sell products that would meet its customers expectations.
“It is very important that we focus on the rollout and make it feasible to evolve into 5G in a reasonable way. For telcos to do better competing against themselves, they have to improve on the coverage and the quality of its services,” he added.