5G Knowledge Summit – Panel Discussion

Title: What is 5G likely to bring to developing countries?

Duration: 1 hour

Background: The cellular communications were initially designed for developed countries to enable mobility and augment the fixed line capacity. However, 2G cellular communications has had a remarkable effect in improving tele density and has helped billions access the telephone network in developing countries. A similar effect has been achieved by 3G/4G networks with respect to internet access and is continuing in many parts of the world. Looking back, it would have been impossible to achieve such growths with some traditional approaches that were thought of several years back.

5G is the latest generation being built now with applications like AR/VR, Connected cars, fibre replacement, and vertical industry applications . The focus continues to be from developed countries, though there has been some success and influence from countries like India in the 5G standardization forums like ITU and 3GPP. The main points to be discussed are listed below.

What will be the impact of the 5G technologies which seem to have again majorly focussed on the requirements of the developed countries?

How does the breadth of connectivity enabled by 5G benefit the wide ranging requirements of developing nations like India?

Since basic telephony and internet access can be achieved through 2G-4G technologies, what can one hope for with 5G with respect to solving connectivity problems for developing countries? Do the use cases considered have anything of particular interest to the developing countries?

Is there a need to jump into it now in order to adopt it early in the technology cycle or should it a just wait and watch approach till the technology matures elsewhere. What are the risks of delayed adoption of 5G in developing countries?

Are there any contributions from developing countries like India to the 5G standards and its impacts?