IWCE 2022: The future of 5G and its implications for government organizations
These days, 5G dominates discourse and headlines—drawing intense interest from engineers and conspiracy theorists alike. As the fifth-generation technological standard for broadband cellular networks, the implications of 5G are profound and, as of yet, still not completely realized.
“It’s going to be high speed, low latency, and massive scale,” said Bryan Schromsky, managing partner of Verizon’s 5G public sector division in a talk, “5G for public safety and national security—Why network resiliency and reliability matters,” at this year’s International Wireless Communications Expo (IWCE) 2022 in Las Vegas.
“When we launched LTE in 2010, you were getting about 5 to 10 megabytes down,” Schromsky said. With 5G, “All of a sudden, you’re getting 300, 400, 500 megabits now.”
While 5G was launched by major carriers including Verizon in 2019, the broader public hasn’t yet experienced it because it’s been limited to 5G millimeter wave (mmWave), a specific wavelength with extremely high bandwidth capacity that’s limited to short distances like a few streets, stadiums and city centers. Notably, Verizon deployed 5G mmWave as an experiment at the most recent Super Bowl in Inglewood, Calif.
The capacity for the average citizen to be able to connect to 5G while on their way to the subway is still a bit of a ways off.
“5G is a 10-year plan. We’re only on year three. There are a lot of things that need to happen,” Schromsky said.
For local and county governments, there are broad implications to the emergence of 5G, as it supports many emerging smart city solutions like remote-driving cars and drones, which require constant and comprehensive connectivity to navigate tight urban environments.
To read the complete article, visit American City & County.