Whether you work in the telecommunications and mobile operator markets or not, you’ve undoubtedly heard the buzz around 5G networks and how they’ll change the relationship among smart phones, carriers, and consumers.
For those who haven’t kept up with this news, 5G is the next generation cellular wireless network expected to launch broadly in 2020. How fast will this next generation network be? Well, I’m old enough to remember when our family computer jumped from a 28K dial-up connection to 56K. With 5G, we’re now talking about 1GB per second download speeds… to your smartphone. What a world.
How the rise of 5G networks will impact consumers is well known. In particular, lightning fast download speeds, low latency, and increased reliability. These capabilities will open up a whole new world of ubiquitous connectivity and network capacity for carriers, which in turn will unlock entirely new services and content consumption capabilities for you, the consumer. Binge-watching your favorite Netflix or HBO series on-the-go will be that much more enjoyable.
But what impact will 5G and the onslaught of new data that comes with it have on mobile operators and telecommunications solution providers? Vertica recently partnered with Mobile World Live (part of GSMA), to explore this topic.
The Growth, Opportunity and Challenge of 5G Connectivity
While still living mostly in the pilot and testing phase, 5G is expected to ramp up dramatically in the coming years – connecting more smartphones, sensors and other IoT-enabled devices to a faster and more reliable network. Just two years from now, GSMA Intelligence predicts as many as 50 million people worldwide will have 5G connections. By 2025, that figure is expected to rise to 1.2 billion.
This rise in 5G connectivity will create an explosion of new data volumes for mobile operators to manage. This will increase the complexity of their data analytics initiatives, but also create new opportunities to engage with customers, bring new services to market, or identify operational inefficiencies.
Intelligent Connectivity, which GSMA defines as a fusion of 5G, IoT and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, will enable new, transformational capabilities across a wide range of verticals. But in order to transform this vision into a reality, organizations need the right tools to manage these next-generation networks and the data which flows through them. Operators will need to find efficient and cost-effective ways to analyze this tidal wave of data as the number of connected consumer and IoT devices rises.
A New Path Forward
So what can operators do to prepare themselves for these new challenges, and reap the benefit of 5G connectivity? Read our whitepaper, Advanced Analytics for Intelligent Connectivity, to learn:
- How new volumes of data, combined with the power of prediction and machine learning, can be used to help operators provide service assurance, improve user experience, predict network problems and more.
- Why legacy data management systems – with data silos, performance constraints, and limited deployment options – are ill-equipped to handle the increased complexity of 5G connectivity.
- How Anritsu, Catch Media and Tuenti Technologies are using Vertica to help operators prevent issues before they arise, drive customer lifetime value, and enhance mobile applications.
Want to Learn more? Download the Mobile World Live whitepaper today
About the Author
Ben Smith
Senior Product Marketing Manager
Ben is a Senior Product Marketing Manager with Vertica, where he supports content development, product messaging, go-to-market planning and digital campaigns. Ben is a Vertica product evangelist who believes data can play a transformative role powering business and process innovation across every industry. Prior to Vertica, Ben worked in Product Marketing for an IoT analytics software provider focused on energy data management. He has an MBA from Boston University and currently lives in Washington, DC.
