GSMA director general Mats Granryd emphasised the need for authorities to release timely and affordably priced spectrum to stimulate rapid and sustainable growth of 5G and the transformative use cases it will support.
Opening the keynote programme, the executive noted almost 80 per cent of 5G launches used mid-band spectrum, cited as being vital for citywide capacity, but added the use of mmWave would provide the fastest speeds in densely populated areas such as industrial parks and sports arenas.
Pointing to the growth of 5G connections, which are predicted to reach 1 billion by the end of 2022, he noted the GSMA had produced a series of 5G transformation case studies covering the technologyās use for drones, construction, smart cities and windfarms.
Discussing the myriad of 5G use cases, Granryd said: āThis is a frontier area of growth, with so many opportunitiesā, adding: āOf course itās a joint effort, governments and policy makers must be informed and encouraged to support the rapid and sustainable growth of 5G.ā
Alongside the prospects of the network technology, he highlighted continued efforts to address the usage gap with more than 3 billion people not using mobile broadband.
āThe good news is that the coverage gap is being reduced,ā Granryd said. āOver the last five years, 1.4 billion more people have been covered by mobile broadband and only 450 million remain.
New era
Adding to this call, Jose Maria Alvarez-Pallete, chairman and CEO, Telefonica, stressed that we were now living in a new era. āThe changes that are already underway are expected to be 4x what happened during the years of the industrial revolution.ā
āEverything is happening at an amazing speed. Huge change is happening, and more is coming. A new immersive world is almost here, which is causing mind-blowing disruption. The new technologies will redefine how we work and live, and weāre looking at the possibility of the truly autonomous network.ā
To deliver this super-connectivity, a new framework was needed, said the Telefonica exec. āA hyper-sector collaboration which delivers value to all, so everyone can gain a fair return. Weāre not asking for privileges, but justice. Weāre asking for framework that protects all digital citizens.ā
āData traffic is growing by 50 per cent annually, and this is a daunting challenge giving the investment commitments needed to support this growth. There should be no distinction to those that have access to the digital world and those who do not ā we need a new social contract.ā
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