This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Read our privacy policy
By Gavin Allen,Executive Editor-in-Chief
Look, up in the sky.. It’s a bird… It’s a plane.. It’s 5.5G!
And it might as well be a superhero, providing 10 times more speed than regular 5G, with lower latency and greater reliability.
Bigger, better, faster—and like a Hollywood superhero, combining unique strengths to save the day.
But how will 5.5G affect commercial opportunity and everyday life?
It’s the question at the heart of this edition of Transform: what is 5.5G, and why do we need it?
(Note that 5.5G is also called 5G-Advanced or 5G-A. The different terms are used interchangeably throughout these pages.)
Namibia, in Southern Africa, launched its first 5G trial in March. Its ICT minister, The Hon. Emma Theophelus, says the new technology will act as an economic accelerant with the power to “bring the nation to a whole new level.” ICT, the minister told us, could transform everything from education and health to mining and governance.
But, she cautioned, it has to be rolled out carefully.
"It’s a big elephant," said Ms. Theophelus. "We cannot focus on the trunk only, or the tail, or the feet. We're moving simultaneously to break the entire elephant apart."
"We are very ambitious," she said. "But we also try to be realistic."
Another jolt of reality: mobile operators need to see 5.5G as an opportunity to make money.
"Whether 5G 'works' comes down, not to technology, but to business ROI," said Tim Hatt, head of research at GSMA Intelligence, in an interview with Transform. "5.5G should be seen within that context of helping monetization efforts, rather than just another fancy list of technological mechanisms."
Dr. Monica Paolini, the founder and president of the wireless technologies consultancy Senza Fili, is hopeful. She says persuading subscribers to spend more for 5.5G-enabled benefits could be a challenge, but adds that there’s great potential for revenue generation in enterprise.
"It’s a genuine widening of the market and a huge opportunity to get into a new set of services and applications, especially with IoT," she said. "It's a really bright area of monetization opportunity for mobile operators."
Tim Hatt pointed to other benefits that went beyond profit alone: "We estimate that 5G and IoT combined can enable about 40% of the CO2 savings required by 2030 to stay on track for Net Zero."
GSMAi surveys suggest that "95% of operators expect to deploy 5G-Advanced by 2030." A few pioneers are already enthusiastically leading the way:
The need to generate profit from 5.5G may be viewed as the elephant in the room and the potential roadblock to instant adoption for telcos.
But that roadblock is clearly temporary. Even an elephant can't hold up the march of technological progress for long.
Contact us! transform@huawei.com