The leap to 5G

5G is coming sooner than later. There is a sense of eagerness and urgency with respect to the arrival of 5G in India. The industry is likely to witness a timely arrival of 5G in line with global launches, unlike 2G, 3G, and 4G technologies. In order to understand the economics and performance, some operators may take intermediate steps and evolve from LTE to LTE-A and LTE-A Pro in preparation for 5G. Some of the network suppliers are in discussion with Indian operators to commence 5G trials early, and these may begin in the second half of 2017. Korea Telecom has committed to launch 5G services at the 2018 Winter Olympics.

With the proliferation of smartphones, broadband and connected everything, data growth is increasing exponentially (500 gigabytes per month in 2020). Unless we start planning and embracing 5G, we are likely to be left behind. The vision of Digital India to create digitally empowered society and knowledge economy is expected to generate $1trillion opportunity. This is contingent on high speed, low latency networks that 5G can provide. As there is specific direction and focus on the Internet of Things (IoT) both by the Government and industry bodies, LTE-A Pro will become critical in the expectation of provisioning of billions of connected devices. In India, LTE-A Pro will pave the way for IoT by introducing new devices and services across industries.

This document from Deloitte India comments on the leap to 5G—the network methodologies that deliver higher speeds and greater capacity, LTE evolution and the path to 5G, among others—remarking on cellular as a key enabler for innovation.