Page 32 - SAMENA Trends - December 2020

ARTICLE SAMENA TRENDS

ARTICLE

5G Technology Gives Internet of Things Fresh Impetus

“CMI is expanding its business from communication services to
information services and refocusing its business from mobile market

to accelerate digital transformation in the economy and society,” said
Andrew Niu, Chief Partnership Officer at CMI.

The Internet of Things (IoT) has in recent The roll-out of 5G in a growing number of no longer will your navigation device say to
years worked its way into most aspects countries around the world, which began turn right just after you’ve passed the road
of everyday life, so much so that its true in 2018 and is ongoing, and the broader on the right. The low latency is expected
value is diluted by familiarity. But it’s appetite for the technology reflects to help virtual and augmented reality
arguably the single biggest technological companies’ and governments’ recognition applications take off.
advance of the past 25 years, one that has of what’s at stake. According to McKinsey
transformed all aspects of industry, the & Co., the potential economic impact of IoT Countries and territories with infrastructure
ways cities work and the way we live our by 2025 will be as much as US$11.1 trillion that’s not up to speed with 5G will become
lives. per year. The existence and efficacy of the less competitive. So, the need for it is
5G network will be critical for that. paramount. The new 5G technology will
Each generation of network technology drive a variety of applications, particularly
from 1G to 4G has heralded a swathe of new To help break that huge sum down a little, in the IoT and machine-to-machine (M2M)
innovation, products, lifestyle changes and McKinsey research on 5G deployment in areas. By mid-year 2020, more than 80
even new industries. IoT and the networks it mobility, healthcare, manufacturing, and countries and territories either had 5G
sits on have created efficiencies, improved retail showed that these four commercial installed or are in the process of installing
healthcare, helped to reduce waste and domains alone could boost global GDP by it.
brought financial inclusion to hundreds US$1.2 trillion to US$2 trillion by 2030.
of millions worldwide. All by allowing In Europe, the EU implemented its 5G Action
information to be sent and received from 5G ten times faster Plan to meet the challenge of making 5G
objects and devices using the internet. IoT merges physical and virtual worlds, a reality for all citizens and businesses in
creating smart environments. The role member states by the end of 2020. That
of 5G is to effectively supercharge that implementation plan has this year been
The new 5G technology process with ultra-high bandwidth, and impeded to an extent, not just by Covid-19,
will drive a variety of low latency connectivity not only between but also conspiracy theories around the
network towers.
individual users, but also with connected
applications, particularly objects. 5G can also serve as the “eyes and
in the IoT and machine-to- ears” for artificial intelligence systems, by Handling zettabytes of data
machine (M2M) areas. By providing real-time data collection and Against this backdrop, China Mobile
analysis.
International (CMI) seeks to go large,
mid-year 2020, more than capitalising on the growing digitalisation
80 countries and territories The 5G networks operate at roughly 10 of a whole array of things. By mid-year, it
had almost 850 million IoT connections,
times the speed of 4G LTE networks – and
either had 5G installed there’s the potential to become faster over nearly twice that of a year earlier.
or are in the process of time. Its ultra-low latency means that it Globally, the number of devices connected
can support advanced applications, such
installing it. as autonomous driving, with precision – to the Internet, including the machines,

32 DECEMBER 2020