Is 5G "Just Another G?"

Is 5G “just another G?” Yes. “Is 5G something quite different?” Yes. Will the near-term value drivers mostly be driven by improvements on 4G experience? Yes. Will the long-term value of 5G be that brand-new use cases emerge? Yes. 

That basically creates the marketing context for creating 5G services and apps, selling 5G services and the value end users perceive. The context is not new. Many futuristic apps and use cases cited for 3G did not happen until the 4G era was well under way. 

Likewise, some 4G use cases will not happen until 5G is well established. Just as likely, some 5G use cases will not become common until the 6G era. The reason might be that adoption of the platforms for important new use cases requires the development of the rest of the supply chain, the redesign of business processes and organizational structures.

Of the possible new use cases, one stands out as being something other than the value of “faster” internet access: cabled network substitution by wireless means. An analogy that illustrates the degree of upside is to say that 5G fixed wireless could have advantages similar to fiber-to-the-home did, in relation to copper access media.

source: Strategy Analytics

The other analogy is the replacement of analog voice switches by digital voice switches or the replacement of centralized switches by distributed servers. In each case, new services were enabled, but more importantly, the cost of supplying legacy services also dropped. 

In other words, the statement that “5G is just another G” is correct, but so is the argument that “5G also is something quite different. The two sometimes go together. 

Mobile text messaging, for example, is an accidental benefit of the introduction of signaling system 7. Smartphones became replacement products for GPS navigation devices, watches, cameras and home phones. For many people, the smartphone is a replacement for a PC. 

Likewise, 5G is likely to eventually produce both “better G” and “new platform” benefits for suppliers (connectivity providers) and users and customers. The value of 4G was that it allowed mobile operators to slash cost per bit. The value of 5G, initially, will be that it likewise further attacks cost per delivered bit. 

Enabling “more” is valuable, for its own sake, as it allows a connectivity provider to supply what the customer wants (faster access, less congestion, better experience) at a price the customer is willing to pay. As with many digital products, “more for the same price” is the requirement. 

That value, though, is more important for some next-generation platforms than for others. The 3G network could not produce a satisfying mobile web experience. The 4G network was markedly different in that regard, so value was easy to describe and experience.

Today’s 4G network, however, produces quite a satisfying experience for most--if not all--the requirements a typical consumer has, most of the time.  Indoor environments, rural areas and high-density urban locations are some of the places experience is not always satisfying. 

Still, the biggest increases in speed and reduction in latency in the radio network might so far outstrip today’s applications that the perceived value of 5G for consumers might not always be obvious. 

That does not mean it has little value. The places where 4G already is an issue (urban and rural areas or indoors) provide use cases where 5G potentially helps. 

“Just another G” does provide material benefits if it provides in rural areas the sort of satisfying experience 4G has supplied in urban areas; if it alleviates congestion in urban areas; if indoor coverage becomes better; if usage allowances and end user cost start to approach that of cabled networks. 

A “better G” therefore has concrete value right away, as it solved existing pain points, either for customers or connectivity suppliers.  “Something different” will emerge later, perhaps not until 6G, though, as parallel developments in edge computing and the internet of things also develop. 

5G is both “just another G” and also a major platform for “something different.” But its first use will be to solve 4G pain points. The high cost to telcos of providing high-quality internet access bandwidth is such a problem. Capacity reinforcement is another such problem.