5G is 10 times more energy efficient than 4G

Technology evolves faster than many of us can track. Even in the last ten years, the change in speed, quality and ability of the technology available is tremendous. One of the more recent innovations is 5G - the fifth generation of wireless technology. How does all this change affect businesses? Crucially, is it helping or hindering their sustainability goals?

A new generation

5G opens a lot more possibilities for consumers and industries, says Rujing Guo, Huawei PR manager. “The basic features that distinguish 5G from its previous generations lay in three aspects: faster speed, lower latency and more massive connections. 5G will become ubiquitous in the coming years and will allow for new innovations and value creation in a whole host of industries.”

Guo says that 5G goes beyond mobile communications and has become an enabler for a wide range of vertical industries both in business and for consumers. “By the end of 2021, more than 200 carriers worldwide had deployed commercial 5G networks, serving more than 700 million 5G users, and over 1,200 commercial 5G devices were in use.”

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Technological innovations and applications

Innovative, 5G-powered applications, such as AR, VR, and free-viewpoint video, are already a reality in multiple countries and regions, and use cases have been expanded from entertainment and education to domains including culture, tourism, shopping and sporting events, says Guo. “In South Korea, carriers are actively developing innovative 5G services such as AR and VR, and more than 40 per cent of their 5G users use AR and VR applications. The AR-based children’s library is one of the most popular applications in the country. In China, new 5G-based video services, such as multi-view video and free-viewpoint video, have been used for many sporting events like athletics and table tennis, bringing users an immersive viewing experience.

“Similarly, AR maps have been used by shopping malls to deliver an immersive shopping experience to 5G users while creating brand-new business models for carriers, shopping malls and advertising agencies. Imagine being on the other side of the world and watching an All-Ireland final via a VR headset from a beach or getting to shop on the streets of Paris from the comfort of your home, these are the possibilities that 5G will allow us to experience.”

A 5G-enabled business

Connectivity and mobility are critical for business operations, to support new ways of working and for consumer experience, says Fergal McCann, eir’s director of mobile networks. “5G enables much-enhanced connectivity via a fast, reliable and low latency connection.

“Increasingly we see businesses embrace 5G mobile technology as either their primary or backup connectivity in their business premises and as their key primary connectivity while on the move. Recently, with the return of large events and gatherings, we’ve seen 5G deliver vastly improved connectivity.”

5G sustainability

5G enables increased business automation based on real-time data, running processes and applications remotely and digital twinning of systems to virtually simulate a real-world application and anticipate its behaviour, says McCann. “All these enable businesses to work more smartly, more efficiently and greatly assist businesses towards their sustainability targets.” He says they have seen strong interest and ambition in the development of 5G private networks in business premises to support their productivity goals.

“The ongoing development of 5G not only brings businesses value but will create social value too,” Guo says. “The energy efficiency of 5G per bit is more than 10 times that of 4G. This means the more traffic that passes through 5G networks, the greener networks can be.

“ICT technologies including 5G can speed up the digitization and thus sustainability goals for industries. 5G can also be deployed directly in industries with high energy consumption like grids or data centres.”

Successfully deploying digital technologies could deliver up to 40 per cent of the reduction in carbon emissions needed to meet Ireland’s 2030 targets, says Guo. “5G as the effective tool, when combined with other core technologies like AI and IoT, can help companies accelerate their digital transformation. This means that with 5G, companies are able to adopt a smarter and greener operation contributing to an overall greener digital economy.”