By BI India Tech Bureau                                   

India is the second-largest mobile market in the world after China. As the long wait for 5G roll out in India will likely come to an end, discussions heat up on how this fifth generation of wireless technology will transform the world of connectivity.

5G is the fastest deployed mobile generation technology and can theoretically be 100 times faster than the current 4G speeds.

While the consumer or B2C segment is vast and untapped, 5G is perhaps the first cellular technology that already has more compelling use cases in the enterprise sector. In fact, right from the initial days, telcos have been optimistic about how they can effectively monetize 5G in the B2B arena. In the consumer segment, however, there still seems to be ambiguity. Therefore, the technology is expected to make greater inroads into the enterprise sector and transform the way businesses function.

5G for enterprise has some significant use cases

Recent reports indicate that commercial 5G services have already been deployed across more than 1,500 cities in over 60 countries worldwide. With high speeds, superior reliability and negligible latency, 5G has several use cases across major industries, including manufacturing, energy & utilities, agriculture, retail, financial services and media & entertainment. The global pandemic has also driven substantial applications of the technology in two important verticals – healthcare and public safety services.

 “The spread of COVID-19 has indeed been a global challenge, but it has also been a platform for illustrating that 5G has been designed to be much more than just a consumer-focused mobile broadband network,” said  Research Director at ABI Research, Dimitris Mavrakis. ABI Research predicts that 5G enterprise applications will accelerate in the post-pandemic world starting with Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), which will provide a foundation for network slicing, reliable networking, and much more.

5G promises incredible results in three areas of business –

Improve operational performance and cost efficiencies through easy integration of intelligence and automation.

Enhance employee experience by helping employees perform better in safer environments

Elevated customer experience by providing multi-platform experiences in real-time

Through better connectivity and ultra-low latency, 5G will play a critical role for businesses in achieving digital transformation goals and becoming more data-driven entities. From an industry perspective, low-latency networks will further push faster adoption of autonomous cars, tele-health, and widespread deployments of the Internet of Things (IoT).

In sectors such as manufacturing, education and retail that are more localized, 5G is expected to have an immediate impact. For example, manufacturers can rely on 5G to accelerate the use of bandwidth-heavy applications around automation, AI and IoT; incorporate AR/VR more effectively and embrace predictive analytics in advanced ways.

In the healthcare sector, where 5G offers great potential, there are impactful use-cases such as remote temperature checking, patient transfer, out-patient clinics and temporary hospitals, and repurposing networks, according to ABI Research.

With private 5G networks, which are predicted to become the standard network of choice among 90 per cent of executives, adoption barriers will be significantly reduced. With improved security, reliability, and speed, private 5G networks can cater to the growing data-intensive workloads of enterprises.