5G and the Internet of Things: What does it mean for the telecommunications industry?

Today, in the telecommunications sector, 5G and IoT play an important role in expanding telecommunications services and capabilities across a wide range of verticals. Together, they unleash a powerful combination of ultra-high speeds, expanded bandwidth, low latency, and improved energy efficiency that will drive billions of connections in the coming years. Not only that, 5G-enabled IoT is expected to create and sustain millions of jobs around the world.

The 5G Factor

5G technology will bring widespread disruption to industries supported by the Internet of Things due to its characteristics such as speed, large capacity and ultra-low latency. According to IDC, by 2021, 5G's widespread enabling of IoT use cases will drive 70% of G2000 companies to spend $1.2 billion on connection management solutions. Although 5G is still in its infancy, its technical capabilities are exciting enough. In addition to solving connectivity issues and expanding network coverage, 5G will also allow technological innovations to be delivered to end consumers in the process of network slicing, edge computing, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. Edge computing will be possible because it moves workload processing to the edge through the ultra-low latency of multi-access edge computing (MEC). This will further drive major revenue for enterprise use cases.

5G will also enable people to remotely control devices in applications that require real-time network performance.

While the COVID-19 pandemic has forced vertical industries to embrace digitization, the combination of 5G and IoT can bring about a data-rich environment. With latency of about 2 milliseconds between 5G devices, it is also expected to take remote applications to new heights. Thanks to the proliferation of IoT devices, these applications range from remote control of heavy machinery to remote surgery. Steve Szabo, vice president of wireless, IoT and partnerships at telecommunications provider Verizon Business, said 5G also brings high throughput. "We have seen in trials that providers can reach 4Gbps at peak speeds, which can give you a sense of the capabilities of 5G," said Szabo.

In addition, 5G connections are highly reliable. Tests have shown that 5G can support 1 million connected devices per square kilometer, 10 times that of LTE. Therefore, it can provide new possibilities for future smart city and smart building capabilities. This is a typical reason why telecommunications providers seek to optimize processes and streamline workflows to achieve more efficient and effective operations.

The Internet of Things will dominate the telecommunications industry

Since telecom operators are well-positioned to become one of the largest players in the IoT space, it will also be an important component of Industry 4.0. According to Industry 4.0, telecom companies can promote the development of IoT services in all major industries, especially energy and resources, transportation, manufacturing, agriculture, government, healthcare and retail. Driven by the user-centric 5G architecture, telecom will rely on IoT sensors for data collection, asset tracking and service delivery; at the same time, expand the IoT infrastructure. At the same time, the accelerated rollout of 5G base stations will continue to build an increasingly connected society. In other words, 5G has become an integral force in the development and implementation of IoT technology in the telecom field.

As the market rapidly builds around the smart industry, 5G will usher in huge development opportunities in the future. This will also mean that the Internet of Things will be ready to release transformational services and bring humanity into the next digital era. With the explosive growth of global data volume, the Internet of Things will become the core of the telecommunications field. In addition, using this data will also create jobs in the telecommunications industry.

According to a market analysis by human resources firm TeamLeaseDigital, talent demand in India's telecom sector is expected to grow 18-20% in 2021 due to widespread adoption of internet services, demand for better telecom networks, and the launch of 5G technology. The analysis report said that some of the most popular positions will be radio frequency engineers, fiber laying, testers, quality inspection engineers, field engineers, etc.