Let’s talk about 5G! This is not only the evolution of the 4G technology, but it also has the potential to change our lives for the better, hence, taking your business one step further. Keep reading to discover how 5G technology can transform life as we know it and what competitive advantages it could bring to your business when it arrives.
In this article, we will clarify the concept of 5G, explain its benefits and impact, give tips to prepare your company for its arrival, and discuss its status in Costa Rica, so sit back and read on!
Understanding technology, What is 5G?
5G is the next-generation mobile internet network; it can provide a connection 100 times faster than 4G, as well as lower latency and the ability to connect far more devices with a single antenna. Trends such as the Internet of Things, Smart Homes, and Smart Cities will be more popular and perfected with 5G, becoming tools that will significantly impact our lives.
For example, we may be able to reach a level of detail where the IoT (Internet of things) can help you detect if a window in your house remained open, monitor your sugar levels, or detect which groceries you typically consume are low in stock so that it can automatically order more online. All of these changes will affect our lives, and we are still unsure what the actual impact on humanity will be.
When we think of 5G network, we believe in faster downloads and watching high-quality videos without waiting for them to load. Still, this new technology goes much further, aiming to connect as many places and objects as possible and achieve real-time communication and connectivity between those objects and places, resulting in a truly interconnected world.
But, to better understand this, let’s contemplate how this technology has evolved and what opportunities it has given us over time.
- 1G: The first mobile phones were born in the 1980s and are the faces of this technology; at the time, communication was only possible through phone calls in a specific coverage area.
- 2G: In this ‘era,’ texting enters our lives, causing a significant shift in how we communicate. We also noticed faster data transmission and improved audio quality.
- 3G: Data transmission was improved, allowing us to include images and videos in the content we exchanged between phones. Voice quality and communication speed also improved.
- 4G LTE: This technology brought us to the mobile era in the 2010s, and you are probably using it right now. It has given us a chance to be connected, communicate through our devices like smartphones and use apps as tools for our daily lives, among other great benefits of 5g.
As we can see up to this point, each of these technological evolutions have been the precursors of different ways of communicating and interacting with technology, of having our devices connected all the time, which has impacted humanity at all levels, from labor, economic to social and psychological. We are clear that the implementation of 5G will not be the exception and that it will bring with it a new way of living, as new services, work models and user experiences will emerge.
What will be its economic impact?
It is predicted that 5G will generate nearly $3.5 billion in the next decade and that the global GDP will grow due to the advantages of 5g, but which industries will benefit the most?
Education, sanity, robotics, transport, and real estate will change significantly. For example, we’ll start to see more smart homes. In addition, with the fifth generation of technology, communications will be made in real-time from any place in the world, which will strengthen telecommuting and allow industries like health care to provide better care for more people in the world. An example of this is the possibility of performing surgeries with the support of medical professionals worldwide working in real-time. And when it comes to marketing, don’t be surprised if brands start to do more and more advertising with tools such as virtual reality or augmented reality.
We are not dreaming!
Take a look at some improvements in life that 5G will bring:
- Environmental impact: 5G is expected to consume half of the energy 4G currently uses. Some people even assert that it will consume 90% less. This reduces the energetic impact of our constant connection, and more devices will be able to connect from a single antenna, lowering the amount of hardware required and, as a result, reducing tech waste.
- Faster connections: This is the most mentioned benefit from 5g, and it is clear why. It is predicted that, while using 5G, we will be able to interact, play games, download big files, and much more at a speed that we don’t know yet. It is capable of speeds up to a maximum of 20 Gbps, which is about 20 times faster than current 4G LTE networks.
- Less latency: Latency is the time difference between communication through video conferences, calls, and gaming. It is hard to tell, but our communication is not real-time. As a result, companies will save money, and resources and grow their income. IoT will be present not only in smart homes but also in companies, upgrading employees’ lives.
- Better data processing: The amount of data that companies will be able to store is massive, so developing ways to store and classify them will be a crucial detail for the constant evolution of services and products. So if you are interested in data collection, you can take a deep dive here, and remember you can always reach out to Access Point for guidance.
The basics you need to know before 5G
It is key to identify the state of your company in terms of digitalization is key. The more you have experimented with different technologies and know how each one of them can work towards the well-being of your business, the easier it will be to adapt to 5G.
Updating and changing hardware like routers, devices, and others will be a must over time to support this technology. Also, developing solutions to process and store data will be key to thriving when 5G comes. We suggest you start reserving a part of your budget for these changes and reach out to professionals for advice on how to move on effectively to 5G. At Access Point, we are happy to help!
What is the state of 5G in Costa Rica?
The government has stated that by 2023, private 5G networks will start to be sold, and recently the Telecommunications Superintendency (Sutel) announced that studies are being developed. The ideal software is already available, to begin with, in the radio electric spectrum. So let’s get ready; this technology will become a reality sooner than later in our country.
What about 6G?
We are still not so clear on what this technology can bring. The only sure thing is that there will be a lot of changes. Still, we will leave you with this prediction: The Japanese operator NTT Docomo says that 6G will activate the sophistication of the fusion of the virtual and physical spaces, which will “make it possible for the cyberspace to support human thought and action in real-time through devices that could be worn on the human body.”
What do you think about 5G? Let us know in the comments!
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