Paris (AFP)

The new 5G mobile technology is eagerly awaited by telecom operators and manufacturers, as it is likely to accelerate the digital transformation of the economy. What does it bring more than existing technologies and what will it serve?

A new mobile generation

The 5G, or fifth generation of standards for mobile network, is the new version of all mobile technologies whose deployment will accelerate from 2020 in the world.

It is a set of protocols and methods of information transmission that theoretically should offer both speed, low response time (latency) and huge capacity, so as to absorb a high traffic. In this sense, the 5G is above all an improvement of the technical capabilities offered by the 4G, just as it has accelerated speeds compared to 3G.

But it is also a new stage in communication practices. Where the first generation allowed to make calls, the 2G to add text, the 3G to start sending images and the 4G to develop mobile internet and video uses, the 5G should be used to connect everything which is not currently, and primarily objects, in industries, cities or health.

A promising technology ...

The 5G has been thought about for ten years as the backbone of the digitization of the entire economy. Where 4G has helped develop the digital economy, 5G must support the digitization of industries while offering a range of services that do not yet exist and even meet new demands such as tomorrow's transport.

For consumers, do not expect a glaring difference in terms of speed, as was the case when moving from 3G to 4G. Operators rely on 5G foremost to manage the increase in traffic and avoid saturation of their mobile networks.

Where 5G is highly anticipated, it is in the industry, since it should accelerate the digitization of plants (especially for the automation of tasks) and transport infrastructure, and thus improve the monitoring of products. and manufacturing processes, allow more predictive maintenance, integrate augmented or virtual reality, etc.

It must also allow the arrival of many innovations: support the connection of all autonomous and connected vehicles, allow the development of e-health (with remote operations, telemedicine, health data transfers, etc. .), connect cities to make them more "intelligent" (flow management, energy saving, rationalization of waste collection, etc.), not to mention uses that have not yet been thought out.

... but uses still to be created

The second phase of deployment, which will begin best in 2022, is intended to meet the needs of industries in particular. It is from here that the big promises of the 5G (autonomous car, robotic factories, connected health or remote surgical operators in particular) are expected to materialize. For the moment, however, the sector has not yet agreed on common standards.

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