You might get used to watching a video or listening to the radio via your smartphone, or to be more specific, 4G LTE. But when it comes to download a high-quality movie or use internet at home, you will look for cable or wifi rather than turning on your personal hotspot. One reason possibly is that it feels like burning up your data allowance (therefore money in your pocket!), or just simply because the mobile connection is too slow.

 

But this lifestyle is going to be changed. 5G technology aims to revolutionise the way you get TV and internet at home. 5G network provides enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), thereby faster speed, easily over 1 Gbit/s. Recent trials even showed dramatic 35 Gbit/s for the high-frequency 5G system. Such a fast speed puts telecom companies as a direct competitor against internet and pay TV providers. More about 5G technologies, current 5G trails and global movement can be found in the IDTechEx Research report IoT Low Power Wireless Networks and 5G 2019-2029.

 

This is not a hype, but coming reality. Verizon and other internet providers are going to start rolling out 5G internet in 2018. Verizon Communications Inc. announced deals making Apple Inc. and Google its first video providers for a superfast 5G wireless service on 14th August, according to Bloomberg. The company plans to launch this service in four cities later in 2018: Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles and Sacramento, California, with more to come next year. Their 5G customers will receive a free Apple TV box or free subscription to Google's YouTube TV app for live television service. Moreover, subscribers will expect to watch live NFL and NBA games for free.

 

While Verizon scales back its own TV ambitions and chooses to partner up with giant suppliers, AT&T plans to expand its consumer 5G network via acquired media companies. AT&T purchased Time Warner Inc. by $85 billion. Its own streaming TV service "DirecTV Now" could theoretically offer through a 5G connection.

 

Replacing cable connections with 5G network is an ambitious and somewhat risky movement. The deployment of 5G will face several challenges. High-frequency 5G radio signal is easily blocked even by a thick glass. The network technology upgrade will be expensive as well. But if successful, it will result in about $200 billion development spending in industry-wide every year. To know more about the challenges and opportunities in 5G technology and other low power wireless networks see www.IDTechEx.com/low.