5G has potential to transform industry and society at large

Interview/ Nitin Bansal, head of Ericsson India

57-Nitin-Bansal Nitin Bansal

Q/ What are the ramifications of the delay in India's roadmap for 5G?

A/ We don’t believe India is behind in its 5G roadmap. However, it's about how soon the spectrum is freed up and made available, given the need for accommodating increasing data traffic and creating new revenue streams. The 5G rollout hinges on government policies, investments and device ecosystem.

Since 5G technology requires a lot of spectrum, it is imperative that spectrum is provided at reasonable prices with adequate blocks. To extend ubiquitous 5G network connectivity in India, it is important to provision street infrastructure; small cells and in-building solutions or fibre and ensure smooth implementation of rules under ‘Right of way’ policy. We also need devices at much more affordable prices.

Q/ Telcos feel the proposed bid prices for 5G spectrums are too high.

A/ Affordable 5G needs to be made available to the Indian operators. Given the ‘long-term benefits’ that 5G technology will bring to India, it needs to be viewed as critical infrastructure and the foundation on which we can realise the Digital India vision. Increased penetration of mobile broadband drives economic growth.

Q/ The jury is still out on how much of an environmental concern the strong wavelength of 5G could have, particularly on birds. Has Ericsson studied this?

A/ I would like to refer to WHO, Mobile & Wireless Forum, GSMA and others for these questions. Over the past 50 years, a large amount of research on radio waves and health has been conducted. WHO and other expert groups have concluded that scientific evidence does not demonstrate any health effects associated with the radio waves from base stations.

Q/ What sectors do you see to be early adopters of 5G in India?

A/ High speeds and low latency output of the 5G networks will drastically pave the way forward for innovation and higher efficiency. In India, industries such as energy and utilities, manufacturing and health care are predicted to be the top three revenue drivers. From a consumer point of view, 79 per cent of the total service provider 5G digital services revenue will be driven by enhanced video and HiFi music.

Q/ How prepared is Ericsson for the 5G rollout in India?

A/ Our radio system hardware has been 5G-ready since 2015 and enables operators to upgrade to 5G with a remote software installation. We recently partnered with Bharti Airtel and implemented a successful demonstration of live 5G service over a commercial network in Hyderabad.

Q/ How expensive would it be for an ordinary mobile phone consumer? And what value addition will he get from it?

A/ 5G will unleash a new era of creativity for consumers. Initially, 5G will be a capacity enhancer in metropolitan areas. We predict that in 2026, 5G networks will carry more than half of the world’s mobile data traffic. More than 70 per cent of consumers expect 5G to provide better performance such as faster speed, better reliability and lower latency, (enabling) consumer offerings around gaming, video and artificial reality/virtual reality.

Over time, new, exciting innovation for 5G will come in the areas of 5G for business and IoT use cases. Going forward, we will likely find the most transformative use cases in critical IoT, where the speed, latency and security of the 5G network will be key. Here we can see 5G’s potential to transform industries and society at large, with use cases such as smart manufacturing, smart cities, self-driving cars and advanced health care applications, just to mention a few.

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