5G Presents Lots of Challenges, a Big Change From 4G, Technologists Say

“It’s so much more,” Ekudden said of 5G. “It’s about latency that’s really, really short. It’s also about the ability to have much more robustness and resiliency than we have had before.” Latency now is typically 20-30 milliseconds, but that falls to single digits with 5G, he said. “The network is not far away,” he said. “The network is basically in your pocket.”

Fifth generation also will help with device power consumption, shifting more of the processing to the network, Ekudden said. “5G is designed from the ground up not to send anything when nothing is needed,” he said. “All the existing systems have a lot of signaling going on just to keep track of where devices are and also other updates. 5G is cutting down on that considerably to cut down on power consumption.”

“Part of what this is about is creating new experiences, creating new opportunities,” said Chris Stark, Nokia chief business development officer. “To do that, we’re going to see a lot more functionality at the edge.”

Fifth generation will offer new types of services and reduces the cost to operators, said Matt Grob, Qualcomm executive vice president-technology. “That means that you’ll be able to consume a lot more data without having your monthly rates go up dramatically or maybe at all.”

The U.S is driving the move to 5G, as are South Korea and Japan, but China is also coming on strong, Ekudden said: “There is very, very strong momentum around the world.” Ericsson is predicting 1 billion 5G subscriptions in five years, he said. All generations of wireless have had a starting market, he said. That market has “rapidly shown what needs to come together, from the device side, to the network, to the testing part,” he said. There is more of a “race” on 5G than other generations of wireless, he said.

The U.S. and Korea always have been leaders, and China is involved in 5G at an earlier stage than in past generations, Grob said. But 4G rolled out faster than 3G and 5G is likely to be deployed even more quickly, he said. Another important difference is that 5G uses sub-6 GHz spectrum and millimeter-wave bands, Grub said. All of the bands will “find their place,” he said. “That really casts [5G] in a different light than what we have with 4G,” he said.

Things could still go wrong on deployment of 5G, Grob said. “This is complex, there’s new demands, new deployment models and it’s not impossible that things take time and you have to solve some bugs,” he said. “That’s not going to stop anything even if that happens.” Meantime, “the demand is really clear” with an “insatiable demand” for more throughput, lower latency, better performance, better battery life and lower costs per byte, Grob said. “When you provide lower costs of access, new applications immediately appear.” Testing underway shows that 5G works, he said.

Carriers will have to densify their networks, Stark said, and trying to get the infrastructure available “at the right time” will be "an interesting challenge we need to make sure we keep on top of.”

CES Notebook

Widespread use and acceptance of IoT devices is contingent on getting security right at the beginning of production and ensuring interoperability across platforms and networks, said industry experts at a CES panel Tuesday on the connected ecosystem. “Over half the U.S. population worry that a connected home can be hacked,” said Deloitte telecom analyst Craig Wigginton. Until confidence is increased, home IoT adoption will be slow, he said. Consumers want the same level of security that utilities provide, even as most people fail to take measures to protect their own devices or read terms and conditions in privacy policies packaged with software and applications, Wigginton said. Interoperability is key: IoT systems need to be able to talk to each other, especially in building smart connected cities, said Balaji Sridharan, T-Mobile vice president-IoT.

The Office of Science and Technology Policy is focused on autonomous vehicles, drone policy, the U.S. posture on artificial intelligence, rural broadband deployment and spectrum, said Michael Kratsios, White House deputy chief technology officer, at CES Tuesday. “It’s critical that you have good scientists and scientific knowledge to kind of back a lot of the policy issues,” Krastsios said. “I kind of have the best job in the White House. It’s an opportunity to tackle some of the most exciting issues that are facing the country.” Most of the issues he's tackling are nonpartisan and the key is getting the right people around the table to discuss them, he said. FCC commissioners were scheduled to have spoken later in the same conference room and all in the audience had to go through a metal detector to attend.

Broadcasters have a role to play in connected cars and other tech trends, panelists said at CES Tuesday. NAB Chief Technology Officer Sam Matheny said radio can "go from just being a passive experience to being an active experience," and he plugged ATSC 3.0. He said NAB members see the car as "one place where we can engage listeners and viewers but we also engage them on the cellphone" and on smart speakers, where research shows FM is the No. 1 audio source. "The connected car is going to be a big place for Pilot," the association's technology initiative, for radio and TV "to deliver data and connectivity," Matheny said. "We're being very proactive about trying to engage" with manufacturers and others "on all those platforms inside the vehicle but really outside the vehicle," he said. On an earlier panel (see 1801090029), Nielsen Senior Vice President Scott Brown said 3.0 will help broadcasters become more like other video players including cable and "that may breathe a lot of life into local television as well and create new opportunities for them." On the connected car panel, Gridsmart Senior Vice President Regina Hopper noted there are "so many unanswered questions." It's not just advancing tech in vehicles, "but we also need to focus on everything around the car, in the car, to make sure we can get an infrastructure of knowledge built for public acceptance and policy acceptance."

Future TV will be driven by consumer demand for personalized content that strikes the right monetization balance for programmers, distributors and customers, said industry experts at a CES panel on internet TV Monday. “We are in the land of plenty with media consumption options,” said David Leibowitz, CH Potomac managing partner. The internet has been the broker of change, opening options for consumers to self-seek content once available only through cable and broadcast outlets, he said. The challenge for established players is finding the right model that serves consumers and meets programmers’ professional standards, said Sherry Brennan, Fox Networks senior vice president-distribution. Fox got over 50 pitches last year from potential channel creators, but most showed a lack of understanding about how to “professionally produce content,” she said. Fox is reviewing a pitch from streaming service Philo, which debuted a sports-less content package in November (see 1711140031), Brennan said. “We think in 10 years, everyone is going to get TV through a service like ours,” said Philo CEO Andrew McCollum. “One size doesn’t fit all,” said Saul Berman, IBM Global Business Services chief strategist: “People really want one channel that’s just for them. That takes a lot of thinking to get right.” Creating the “channels of one” requires using sophisticated tools to detect an individual’s viewing preferences, which change depending on where and with whom he or she consumes content, he said. McCollum said Netflix has invested a lot of money in trying to make accurate recommendations based on viewers' choices, but “most people think it doesn’t work.” He thinks integrating social media into content streaming services will “make TV start to look a lot different.”