Industry Thought Leadership

Technologies and concepts our ears have grown accustomed to hearing in bits and pieces since the days of 3G are about to converge and consolidate, to deliver life-changing experiences in the impending era of 5G. This consolidation, when contextualized properly, of course, will continue to improve further beyond 2030 when advances in quantum technologies may give way to “6G”, one day, to occupy the same space in our future industry discussions as 5G does today. For now, however, “intelligent connectivity”, which is manifesting itself through artificial intelligence powered by real-time factual data collection and data analytics devices that operate in an internet-of-everything environment, and is being brought to life through fifth-generation transmission technologies and infrastructure, is where our perceptions and preparations currently stand — against a complex digital communications background.

The promise of 5G rests on its marvelous engineering capabilities achieved, especially with respect to the use of new spectrum, due to which signal directionality, spectral efficiency, extremely low signal path loss, precision in data flows, and self-regulating power management modes are made possible.

The promise of 5G rests on its marvelous engineering capabilities achieved, especially with respect to the use of new spectrum, due to which signal directionality, spectral efficiency, extremely low signal path loss, precision in data flows, and self-regulating power management modes are made possible. This has allowed for the technological capability of 5G to connect a thousand more diverse devices per meter at blazingly superior data speeds than would be possible with any previous generation technologies. Recognizably, considerable amount of work has been put into engineering 5G to overcome the existing spectrum band congestion issues as well.

Seen from a non-technology perspective, one of the best things about 5G is the sheer transformation in collaborative approaches that it could catalyze; and stakeholders are quickly beginning to understand that 5G will not just be an advanced cellular technology, which humans would appreciate through the speeds it offers. On the contrary, 5G will serve as the bedrock on which an entirely new, perceivably complex ecosystem of digital systems, services, human enablement methods, value-chains, and business models will be built, and that a new road will be paved with it for carrying out human progress over the next decades. It suffices to say, nonetheless, that the 5G ecosystem would only remain an ecosystem as long as there is sustainability, collaboration, and symbiosis in it.

Gradually, building the 5G ecosystem and readying it for human progress — which transcends beyond worries of being replaced by machines and, instead, demands inclusion and empowerment of all humans — would mean developing methodologies and opportunities, or “use cases”, for bringing together telecom operators, regulators from across sectors, municipal governments, and just about every digitally-invested entity or decisionmaker who will be or needs to be a part of the sea-change being brought forth by 5G, to help, for example: accelerate governments’ transition to a more digitized and readily-available state; improve land mapping; water and soil testing; food production and quality management; autonomous driving; consolidating cybersecurity needs and addressing data demands through 5G’s back-haul system across the digital infrastructure from edge to core, among others.

Initially, however, the focus of 5G in the SAMENA region, as is visible from preparations underway in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Lebanon, and Bahrain will be on on leveraging the existing 4G (LTE) infrastructure investments to offer enhanced mobile broadband and fixed wireless access, while the Industry conjures up new applications that will require 5G Core. It suffices also to say, that timely availability of 5G user devices, compatible with spectrum bands that telecom operators have lately acquired for this purpose, will have a direct impact on the pace of this initial deployment of 5G. To move forward in proliferating 5G in a meaningful way, however, discussions on 5G must start with an acknowledgment that at least 50% of the world remains completely disconnected from the Internet, which has brought substantial positive benefits to the connected world. This human dimension of being connected to technology necessitates that, since 5G will facilitate and expand new data streams of all kinds, which will be used for human advantage, first we develop multi-dimensional frameworks (including of policy, incentivization, implementation, regulation, etc.), which should effectively cater to these streams of data to allow for new human experiences to happen. Being at a critical juncture in digital and societal transformation, digital literacy follows next, as without it, policy and implementation frameworks are a challenge to implement. Ultimately, we should demand of ourselves to accelerate all industry efforts to create relevance and communicate meaningfulness of available technologies, and translate technology deployments into value for humans, through the language and contexts they understand.

This human dimension of being connected to technology necessitates that, since 5G will facilitate and expand new data streams of all kinds, which will be used for human advantage, first we develop multi-dimensional frameworks (including of policy, incentivization, implementation, regulation, etc.), which should effectively cater to these streams of data to allow for new human experiences to happen.

It is also important to recognize that the transition to 5G provides opportunities to improve security. 5G should allow us to put into action all accumulated insights and experiences into incorporating security and privacy by design. Doing so is necessary for dealing with imminent data complexity that plethora of human and machine connections are going to create, but also to ensure that the human need for protection, preparation for the future, privacy, and preservation of dignity is fulfilled. This need is of special importance with regard to the protection of children; an imperative that the ITU, through its Child Online Protection (COP) Program has defined very well. Moreover, this need is also an essential element of the human awakening. Human rights due diligence practices need to become an essential part of our industry discussions, and should form the blue-print for developing and deploying the 5G systems and services, which ultimately will constitute intelligent connectivity; hopefully, intelligent enough to anticipate and mitigate negative impacts on humans.

Having entered the fourth industrial revolution, 5G, as a whole, serves as a much-needed opportunity to start afresh in the way we think, make policies, define measurable action plans, and align our expectations with the ground realities of the environment, in which we now live and want our children to thrive in the future.

It is upon us to bring the benefit of technological advancements in data transmission technologies to transforming lives of humans. Since 2G, the Industry has struggled with many archaic approaches in how to frame policies and how to regulate. Fortunately, industry stakeholders across the board now recognize that our fifth-generation decision-making should be as futuristic as has been our technological progress, which does demand collaboration among all concerned entities and platforms. We need to plan for the 5G future based on what we have learned from 1G, 2G, 3G, and 4G. For human development, because transition to 5G opens up new horizons, all good intentions and public and private-sector efforts should be exerted in synch; toward developing capabilities, which advanced technologies can facilitate, tremendously. Our collective progress, which is materializing in the form of technology infusion, will ultimately be measured through the value and meaningfulness we create for fellow humans. And 5G holds the promise of allowing this to happen.

Izhar Ahmad contributes to SAMENA Telecommunications Council’s strategic positioning and effective communication with industry stakeholders. He is an alumnus of the Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering & Applied Science and an inducted member of Eta Kappa Nu (IEEE-HKN).