5G will redefine entire business models. Here’s how

Source: World Economic Forum - This article is part of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting

Everybody knows what a farm looks like, don’t they? The same goes for a factory, a mine, a power station. Although the scale might have changed, they are all still recognizable from their forms of 50 or 100 years ago.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution will change that. It will melt the boundaries – and the limitations – of large, economy-defining industries, transforming how they look and what they produce. And it will do that because it will be powered by 5G.

Why? Because 5G is more than just the next step up from 4G. It possesses unique characteristics that make it socially and economically transformative: low latency (in other words, almost imperceptible lag when carrying out remote orders); fast speeds (around 10 times faster than today’s networks); connection capability (enabling up to 1 million linked devices per square kilometre); and unparalleled reliability (allowing new precision-based applications).

This technology is already here. The world’s first 5G networks were rolled out in the US and Korea last year. China, Japan, Australia, Finland – and many other countries where governments have actively pushed 5G adoption – will soon follow.

And the important thing is this: businesses and governments shouldn’t wait for 5G and the Fourth Industrial Revolution to come to them. Business models are already changing. If you want the early adopter advantage, this is the time to move.