In the 21st century, businesses can’t do without digital applications because they provide features and convenience to your customers and that keeps them coming back. Digital transformation has been making small businesses cost-effective, efficient, and competitive be it in sales, marketing, customer care, or manufacturing. However, this ever-evolving field of digital transformation is about to change at an even greater pace, thanks to 5G.
What Is 5G?
5G is the next generation of mobile network technology that is about to revolutionize life and business as we know it. It promises a faster, better, and more reliable connection than we have ever seen before. It may bring to life solutions that sci-fi films envisioned, creating business opportunities we cannot even think of yet. This article will show you what 5G technology is about and how it can change the life of your SMB forever.
A Brief History Of 5G
We cannot talk about 5G without devoting a few words to how the long and winding road of mobile network development led to the birth of 5G.
There were distinct milestones in this journey starting in 1979 when the first generation (G1) of mobile telephony, which delivered analog voice, was born. It was over a decade later in 1991, that the second generation of the cellular system could first deliver digital voice, and things started to speed up. The 3G network was introduced in 1998 with faster transfer rates of mobile data, and the herald of mobile internet, 4G, which arrived in 2008.
Today, 13 years later, we still use 4G, because 4G itself is also constantly evolving. 4G applications can deliver amended mobile web access, gaming services, IP telephony, video conferencing, high-def mobile TV, and even 3D television. As consumers, we have barely been able to keep up with all of these technologies, and 5G is already knocking on the door.
William Webb, one of the world’s leading wireless network communication experts, author of “The 5G Myth” wrote: “4G continues to improve and delivers pretty much everything anyone wants. So there is no real need for a new generation. The timing is driven more by the industry than any consumer needs.”
So the real benefit of 5G is for businesses. But what is so special about 5G?
How Does 5G Technology Work?
The 5G network is similar to its predecessors in many respects. The network is built from small geographical areas called cells in which all wireless devices are connected to the mobile telephone network and the Internet. The connection is established through a variety of radio waves with the help of local antennas and transceivers. These antennas are connected to switching centers and routers by either wireless connections or high-bandwidth optical fiber. The signal of a mobile device is automatically handed off to the next cell and the connectivity capacity of a 5G system is 10 times of the 4G network with up to a million devices per km2.
The previous cellular networks used low and medium band frequencies, whereas 5G uses all these, plus adds higher frequency radio waves. The antennas transmit multiple bitstreams of data simultaneously and a computer is continuously calculating the best route for radio waves in a technique called beamforming.
The result is speed and connectivity we have never seen before. The bandwidth can eventually reach 10 gigabits per second which can be a worthy rival of cable internet. Such bandwidth opens up a world of possibilities that can be a real breakthrough even for IoT and machine-to-machine communications.
The Main Application Areas Of 5G
The International Telecommunication Union, the agency of the UN responsible for information and telecommunication matters, defined the following 3 main potential application areas of 5G.
Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB)
eMBB brings cloud-connected experiences that guarantee uniform data rates, lower latency, and lower cost per bit. It is the next level of an always-on, always-connected high-speed network with real-time responsiveness.
Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC)
URLLC comes into play with mission-critical applications and industries that require ultra-reliability, ultra-availability, and low latency. The guaranteed uninterrupted, robust data exchange with low latency will be a game-changer for self-driving vehicles and remote control of infrastructure employing smart-grid control, industrial automation, or drones.
Massive Machine Type Communications (mMTC)
mMTC is the most anticipated application area for 5G that opens up the future of IoT devices. According to the forecasts of Gartner, the number of IoT connections in the US will reach 5.4 billion by 2025 and 24.1 billion worldwide by 2030 with a compound annual growth rate of 11%. These will all thrive on 5G.
What Are The Potential Use Cases Of 5G For Smbs?
The application areas give a taste of the potentials of 5G, but let us look at some real-life use cases of 5G to understand the benefits an SMB can gain from the new generation of cellular networks.
Healthcare: Enhanced Patient Care
The new generation of 5G devices will provide never-seen connectivity for doctors and patients. Based on real-time monitoring of the health condition of patients, wearable medical devices will automatically alert medical experts about potentially life-threatening events and prepare them for incoming patents, providing a complete record of data.
Retail: A New Experience Of Shopping
The future of retail may be more like a showroom that displays items to potential customers in a targeted manner. Cashierless shops will be made possible by automatically charging customers for items they have in their cart when leaving. Efficiency, customer care, and convenience will be the driving force of these new applications.
Logistics: A New Area Of Warehouses And Delivery
Restocking for businesses will be a breeze. Real-time inventory with automated reorder will be the norm. Robots will move goods from the shelves in warehouses and self-driving vehicles will take care of the delivery. The always-on, always available, cost-effective solutions will support the business development of SMBs with the lowest possible inventory and quick turnaround.
Agriculture: More Data, Fewer Chemicals
Field monitoring systems will enable farmers to time irrigation, fertilizers, and chemicals to the exact moment and with the exact amount needed, making cost-effective and efficient farming possible. With certain resources like water potentially becoming critical in the future, this may prove to be an essential step for sustainable farming.
What Are The Advantages And Disadvantages Of 5G?
Although 5G may seem like a utopia come true, it equally has its advantages and disadvantages.
The Pros
The most important advantages of 5G that make everything else possible are, certainly, speed and efficiency. 5G can provide new levels of uninterrupted and consistent connectivity across the world while simplifying the networks and making it possible to use 10 times more devices in parallel than before.
5G will also bring never seen technological advances. We talked about the potential use cases of AI and IoT in business, but the increased control of simple handsets also carries unprecedented potentials for businesses.
Enhanced public and private monitoring possibilities will increase security, and will also take productivity and disaster alerts to a new level.
The Cons
However, everything comes at a price and this can be taken literally with 5G. Developing a 5G network is costly and users will pay the price. Higher-frequency radio waves have a shorter physical range, which means that smaller geographic cells need to be set up with more antennas.
On the user side, it may also be an issue that many 4G devices would not be compatible with 5G and will result in high costs of replacing equipment.
Network security and privacy are also critical issues of 5G that are yet to be solved. The applications that make cashier-less shopping possible require access to sensitive data and drone surveillance may probe into private territories. Even the smallest security breach may result in significant issues with large quantities of data transmitted through 5G.
Last but not least, technical and medical experts have still not reached an agreement on whether or not microwave technology carries any medical threat.
Some Closing Thoughts
The 5G technology is developing as we speak. The arrival of COVID 19 with remote work and bandwidth-hungry home entertainment applications meant an increased demand for speed and connectivity. According to Michael Porowski, senior research analyst at Gartner, 39% of the total revenue brought in from the wireless infrastructure in 2021 came through 5G.
The new generation of mobile networks is here and early adopters in business may be in a significantly better position to harvest its benefits when the time comes. We will be on top of it to support your business with first-class network services and cybersecurity.
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