Impact of 5G on IoT Solutions

5G is a unified way of communicating. Of course, 4G was also that, but with 5G you have a more reliable, more robust network that connects a lot of things, bringing ultra-low latency and a massive network capacity. This benefits our customers by enabling them to make even better data-driven decisions about their business.  

I look at 5G implementation as a three-step process. Step 1 is the rollout of 5G, which Tele2 is currently doing. Step 2 – roaming – is being implemented quickly and will mean you are no longer dependent on your own network operator anymore – you can have sensors with the same performance with all networks when you go abroad. Once we have these two steps completed, we’ll be on step 3: massive IoT.  

If we take the 5G proof-of-concept Tele2 IoT did with Speeron and Nordic Choice Hotels, they were able to instantly see the benefits of flexible mobile connectivity and the ability to deploy a lot of services on 5G. Going forward, they will connect everything from devices to people to buildings, as will other customers. With 5G, it doesn’t matter if we’re talking about a single car, an office building, or an entire city – a robust network with ultra-low latency and a huge capacity means reliability and stability, which opens up huge possibilities.  

Currently the hospitality industry is seeing that 5G improves the complete user experience. Take your average hotel guest – they’re spoiled by their own mobile phone, which usually has the best connectivity. When they walk into a hotel, though, they tend to get an inferior user experience. Being able to connect to 5G when you enter the hotel means a seamless user experience. 5G also benefits the back of the house, where sensors and devices allow for the optimization of everything from energy consumption to air quality. It’s ease of use on one side and since 5G is super reliable, it’s a great experience for both the front and the back of the house because everything has the possibility to be more seamlessly connected.  

Turning to private networks: a 5G private network will out-perform WiFi because WiFi is still using ‘send and receive’ methods, which are pretty old fashioned. Private networks will improve indoor performance, so it makes sense that it’s better to connect to a 5G Private network than to a WiFi network. You get lower latency, better coverage, and ease of use, and you can use the same device in your office as you use it out on the street, so it’s decomplicated, in a sense. 

To give you an example, if we look at an airport, they use normal cellular phones and mobile radios, and they have a lot of automation going on.  The service on WiFi fluctuates a lot – it might be working perfectly and then again, it might not. With 5G it’s always a stable service, which is crucial when you’re talking about automation, particularly in a setting like an airport.  

Those of us in the IoT world have long talked about things like a surgeon in New York City remotely performing brain surgery on a patient in Stockholm, or a rock being cut remotely in a mine in Northern Sweden by someone in Berlin. 5G means you can extract data from devices in a live environment, so for example four measurements per second is feasible and will start to open up the possibility for things like remote surgery or remote mining.  

5G contributes to mission critical services – or perhaps we could say mission critical communication. Either way, waiting four or five seconds to get your data is not optimal, so 5G is a gamechanger for a lot of industries: healthcare can more easily reach isolated patients and people who work in industries like mining can do their work from a safe distance.  

We’ve been talking about the amazing possibilities of IoT for a long time and while some are already a reality, the technology is finally here to make much of it an everyday reality. 5G will be the revolution in communication.  

 If you would like to learn more about the benefits of 5G and IoT, please get in touch. 

Arjen Zijlstra
Solution Consultant
Tele2 IoT