The development of information and communication technologies allows people to build connections and thus imagine the world infinitely. Globally, schools and education systems, healthcare and healthcare industries are digitizing, automotive manufacturing, heavy industry have also begun the pace of digital transformation, and 5G is a key driver.
It is true that 4G technology has woven a huge and perfect information and communication network for the world in the past decade, and all sectors of society have developed rapidly with the help of 4G. So, what is the 5G trend trend in the next decade?
The Mobile World Congress 2022 (MWC22) came to an end with more than 1,500 exhibitors from around the world, including Ericsson, and thousands of industry leaders gathered to talk about the future development of 5G. "For Ericsson, building a network infrastructure that can connect billions of people and will connect everything in the future is at our core." Ericsson President and CEO Yikang Bao said.
Authoritative data show that by the end of 2021, the number of global 5G signed users has exceeded 660 million; by the end of 2027, the number of global 5G signed users will reach 4.4 billion, accounting for about 49% of the total number of global mobile contracted users, and 5G will become the dominant mobile network access technology.
"The commercial use of 5G technology on a large scale has increased its applicability in enterprises/industries. For example, industries such as education and healthcare are using new 5G technologies for digitization, and large and heavy industries such as manufacturing and automotive are now beginning to accept 5G as the main driver of innovation. Ericsson's chief technology officer Erik Ekudden believes that "it also means that in the next decade, 5G will become the largest innovation platform ever." ”
5G broadens the boundaries of industry applications
In the information age, a factory is not only built of reinforced concrete, but also woven from cables. However, under the trend of mobile communication, these cables not only cause trouble to factory operation and maintenance, safe production, but also their cost and flexibility are disconnected from contemporary production needs. 5G is currently the only alternative to wired communications, and its low latency and high reliability will greatly promote the digital transformation of factories.
5G "threads the needle" to connect the factory's WAN with the LOCAL area network, cloud and equipment, so that they can play their best role.
Ericsson believes that 5G technology has a high degree of tolerance for innovation: high coverage and capacity; high scalability in voice calls, broadband connections and application areas; high speed, low latency; edge computing and cloud connection solutions; flexible networking, on-demand customization of private networks will be deeply integrated with the industry, and personalized networks suitable for industry customer application scenarios will be deeply integrated with their production processes and manufacturing processes to achieve intelligent upgrading of factories.
At MWC22, Ericsson's 6,000-square-meter booth explained the future development trend of 5G and its applications to the audience.
In this booth the size of a football field, Ericsson "built" a factory of the future, allowing the audience to explore the latest manufacturing and industrial applications brought by 5G technology, including digital twins and robots, and fully satisfying the audience's curiosity about how 5G technology will empower the industry in the future.
For the industry, the construction of 5G private network is indispensable. Erik Ekudden pointed out that the private network supports any size of coverage area, from small to large, from indoor to outdoor... For these factories, even if the size and complexity of the network increase exponentially, the private network can still meet the high-speed communication requirements of various traffic scenarios.
5G makes CSPs digital value creators
5G, as an innovation platform, also provides an unprecedented opportunity for communication service providers (CSPs) to achieve higher self-worth on stages across industry verticals.
But before communications service providers can achieve a range of innovations, the foundation must be laid firmly. How well the digital infrastructure is built, how vast the 5G innovation platform is.
The use of Massive MIMO technology has made 5G "faster." At the MWC22, Ericsson showcased the air3218, the industry's lightest and smallest new generation of active passive antenna integrated wireless devices, enabling communication service providers to accelerate the pace of 5G. Without adding sky surface and without the need for tower modification, MassiveMIMO can be easily deployed.
In addition, the focus technology that can help communication service providers enter new business expansion markets is network slicing. Many verticals have different requirements for networking, and network slicing has become a fundamental way to provide customized services and use cases to these enterprises.
As a "diversion channel" to alleviate the "pressure on the network road", network slicing technology can achieve a reasonable allocation of resources according to the requirements of different services on the network, so operators can provide users with more personalized services and greatly improve the user experience. Recently, Ericsson launched the "Dynamic Network Slice Selection" solution, which provides multiple custom network slices for 5G devices.
With this solution, operators can flexibly separate services across their 5G networks and enhance traffic direction, maximizing the quality of service from a single device. Users will enjoy differentiated services such as generic mobile broadband network slices for basic individual subscriber services, specific network slices for services such as games, and high-security network slices for enterprise-class applications.
In addition, Ericsson has also recently released a new cellular IoT platform IoTAcceleratorConnect, providing enterprises with plug-and-play cellular IoT connectivity, enabling operators and enterprises around the world to expand their IoT business on tens of millions of devices.
It not only enables communication service providers to achieve a higher level of open source throttling, but also transforms them from traditional vendor roles into enablers of 5G services and possibly eventually becomes a digital value creator.
"We're making sure that all the capabilities built into the 5G-era platform can be leveraged by developers and businesses that want to develop, creating the best performance, the best total cost of ownership (TCO), and ultimately enabling our users to grow this year and in the years to come." Erik Ekudden said.
5G adds power to sustainable development
From 2G to 5G, the ICT revolution is having a profound impact on production, while the consumption of the earth's resources is also increasing. That's why technological innovation has become so important. Over the past decade, the amount of data transmitted by the global mobile network has increased by more than 300 times, and its energy consumption has increased by more than 60%.
There is no doubt that more than ever, there is a need to further reduce the damage that communication brings to the natural environment through technological innovation.
Research shows that the current annual energy cost of running a mobile communication network worldwide is about $25 billion. From a cost and carbon footprint perspective, energy consumption is one of the biggest challenges facing the mobile communications industry today. With strong network capabilities, 5G can help enterprise factories, logistics networks, power companies and other institutions achieve more efficient, more conscious, more purposeful operations, ensuring global sustainability.
"Energy efficiency" has long been ericsson's focus on developing RAN products and solutions. According to reports, Ericsson's newly released product portfolio will achieve significant energy savings and up to 10 times capacity growth, while minimizing or even not increasing the footprint. For example, the dual-band wireless product Radio4490, which was released on MWC22, has greatly reduced its weight while reducing energy consumption by about 25% compared with the same configuration of the previous generation.
Wireless connectivity will be key to solving the climate crisis. "We plan to reduce emissions by 2030 and our operations are carbon neutral, with Ericsson's plant already reducing carbon emissions by around 24 percent," Bao emphasized. ”
How to build a sustainable 5G network? PerNarvinger, Head of Products at Ericsson Networks, said: "There are two key trends in our new portfolio, one is more integration, especially the use of Ericsson's unique silicon core technology to make the hardware more compact and energy efficient, and the other is the introduction of cloud technology in software. This will make the product easier, faster to roll out, and more sustainable. ”
In the past decade, the world's top mobile communication equipment manufacturers, including Ericsson, have always paid close attention to the progress of 5G technology and actively contributed to the global 5G construction. According to the data released by Ericsson's official website, as of now, Ericsson has obtained 170 5G commercial contracts around the world, of which Ericsson has reached public 5G commercial contracts with 89 operator customers, and provided equipment for 114 5G commercial networks that have been officially operated in 51 countries and regions.
Technological innovation helps shape a brighter future. 5G will bring about a world powered by infinite connectivity and deeply integrated into our lives in 10 or even 20 years. As Bao Yikang put it: "The miracle of mobile communication has connected billions of people and brought us countless social and economic benefits." "We look forward to all parties embarking on the next decade of 5G, enabling technology to improve people's lives and create a sustainable future."