By, Vinod Samarawickrama, Head of Ericsson Sri Lanka,

Much like any revolutionary technological advancement, 5G has generated much discussion amongst consumers and businesses alike. Discussions and debates on the benefits of the technology, the possible use cases, industries that can benefit, the potential revenue it can generate for the telecom industry. These and many more such topics are at the core of much that we read or hear on 5G. As 5G deployments have commenced in different parts of the world, the interest in 5G has only grown. Telecom operators have started marketing their 5G networks based on aspects like ‘fastest speed, widest coverage and strongest security’ or ‘Super power 5G services’ and some of the myths surrounding 5G have started to give way and a clear picture has begun to emerge on both the possible use cases and the consumer appetite for 5G services.  
  
According to an Ericsson Consumer Lab Study carried out recently, consumers expect 5G to offer them a relief from network issues in crowded areas. Further, 5G has great implications with respect to the availability of more home broadband choices with its launch for 5G home consumers who are either dissatisfied with their existing wireless broadband provider or lack broadband choices that support their network needs. 

The fact that a strong consumer demand for 5G has begun to emerge is clear from the fact that consumers have stated their intent to change their service provider in case 5G services are not offered. More than half of smartphone users in China and India, and one in four in the US, Australia and Canada, expect their own provider to switch to 5G or will wait a maximum of six months before moving to another provider that does.

There has also been much discussion around whether consumers are willing to pay a premium for 5G services and how much would that premium be. Globally, smartphone users say they are willing to pay a 20 percent premium for 5G services, while half of early adopters would pay as much as 32 percent more. The consumers who are willing to pay more for 5G services also expect new use cases and payment models as well as a secure 5G network in addition to a consistently high internet speed. While the timeframe might be different for different countries, smartphone users predict that most applications and services will go mainstream within 2 to 3 years of 5G being launched.  It is also to be expected that future usage behaviours will be fairly different from the current 4G usage patterns.

The need for 5G 

4G is here to stay in Sri Lanka for a while. The total data traffic levels in the country are expected to show strong growth fueled by fast changing data consumption patterns, which means that telecom operators will need to provide higher capacity in the networks. In order to leverage and monetize their 4G networks, telecom operators in Sri Lanka will therefore need to adopt latest 4G technologies like Massive MIMO, Gigabit LTE etc. so that they get the required capacity and are in a position to ensure experience levels that customers are increasingly getting used to. One thing we learned from the global introduction of 4G is that first movers grow faster. Operators who rolled out 4G ahead of competitors enjoyed increased revenue and market share. 

As per the Ericsson Mobility Report, June 2019 edition, the data traffic per smartphone in South east Asia and Oceania is expected to grow from 3.6GB/ month to 17 GB/month showing a CAGR of 29%. In time, particularly in dense urban areas, the 4G networks simply won’t be able to keep up. That’s where the new 5G comes into play. 5G will enable something called enhanced mobile broadband, which will bring better experiences for smartphone users, and fixed wireless access, providing fibre like speeds without fibre to homes. 5G will improve data connectivity dramatically. Users won’t have to deal with disruptions when sharing videos from crowded arenas, nor will high-quality videos on your newsfeed cause frustration from all the buffering. Instead, it will be a faster, more stable, more secure connection – along with new services and experiences.

Why 5G makes sense for telcos?

The introduction of 5G will make it possible for communications service providers to improve their business in various ways. Just as 4G shook up the landscape, whereby data packages became more important than voice and SMS packages, 5G brings opportunities for communications service providers to offer new services. 5G will improve cost-efficiency. At Ericsson, we did a study of enhanced mobile broadband. It shows that evolution to 5G will enable 10 times lower cost per gigabyte than current 4G networks. 5G also presents an opportunity for operators to tap into revenue streams emerging from the digitalization of industries. Enabling new use cases, new services new business models and new eco-system, service providers can benefit from up to USD 619 billion market opportunity globally in 2026. 

Socio-Economic Benefits of 5G Services to Sri Lankan Society

5G and IOT will be the engine for innovation and most importantly, will create new business models and revenue streams for industries. Sri Lanka government’s key ambition is to create ‘a country enriched by 2025’ and for that Sri Lanka needs to achieve inclusive growth through major infrastructural development as well as through technology optimisation and digitalisation. Sri Lanka is moving ahead with digital transformation, even as the fourth Industrial Revolution or Industry 4.0 is transforming the industrial landscape. 

5G will push mobile speeds from 100 Mbps to upward of 10 Gbps, a thousand-fold increase that will make next-generation wireless competitive vis a vis even the fastest fibre-optic wired networks. Development and deployment of new affordable wireless technology that provides high speed broadband services to SriLanka’ s population both in urban and rural areas at reasonable costs, will reduce the digital divide.

At home, 5G networks will move beyond the cliché of refrigerators that automatically reorder milk to fully integrated living spaces that adjust to the needs of every member of the family, providing home security, optimizing power and water usage, and personalizing entertainment. Smart homes will be much more energy-efficient. But more important for an aging population, 5G networks will help seniors with monitoring their medications, connecting them to telehealth services and tracking indicators from sleep to insulin levels.

Rural users will benefit as well, as 5G enables smart agriculture, communicating with sensors in the ground, in crops, and on livestock and farm machinery. Along with weather satellites and drones, these technologies will help farmers know when and how much to water, fertilize and apply pesticides in more effective and environmentally friendly ways. Smart farming may also drive the case for deploying 5G networks to rural areas more rapidly, closing what remains of the digital divide as a happy side effect. 5G will certainly open up new possibilities for Sri Lanka and its people!

The write is Vinod Samarawickrama, the Managing Director and County Manager of Ericsson Sri Lanka and Maldives. His role entails providing leadership, driving business growth, and further deepening customer relationships with operators and regulators. He is also focused on Nation Building Initiatives through ICT Innovation in collaboration with the Government of Sri Lanka.