COVID-19 showed importance of 5G for economy and environment

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown how connectivity has become an even bigger part of critical infrastructure, helping people in an unprecedented way to work, study and socialize online. Last year, consumer use of fixed broadband increased by an average of two and half hours per day, and on mobile by one hour.

In its first 5G Outlook Series report, the World Economic Forum highlighted several activities behind that increased usage: in healthcare, a 490% increase in telemedicine urgent care visits; in socialization a 75% increase in online gaming; and in retail, online transactions were up 74% globally. In the world of work, Ericsson’s Mobility Report showed 60% of white-collar workers increased their usage of video calls.

Despite the sudden and unprecedented changes in traffic patterns and demand, the networks performed well, with operators generally providing enough network performance. This strong performance was reflected in users’ perceptions, with 83% claiming ICT helped them a lot, in one way or another, to cope with lockdowns.

Without the investments made in 4G and 5G, none of the uses including telemedicine, video calls and gaming could have been delivered to the extent seen through the pandemic.

With vaccines rolling out, there is a risk that society seeks to pick-up from before the pandemic took hold. However, it is obvious the world cannot move forward by returning to the pre-pandemic status quo. If we are to emerge strongly from COVID-19 and tackle greater challenges, such as climate change, then not only do we need to continue the digital evolution, but we need to accelerate it with 5G at the forefront.

5G at the forefront of digital evolution

Governments have a long way to go in helping rollout 5G if we want to use it to address economic and environmental challenges, while mitigating inequality. With attributes such as high speed and low latency, and as an enabler of other technologies such as the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence, 5G is designed to be a platform upon which enterprises can take forward efficient, low-cost, low emission uses.

This can be seen in factory settings, for example, where 5G uses gather in the form of automated heating, ventilation, air conditioning, light control and building management. Many of these 5G uses, the economic and environmental benefits derived from them, are explored in Ericsson’s 5G Smart Factory.

In a similar vein within agriculture, there are several 5G use cases whereby the use of sensors and other connected devices allow farmers to produce more output whilst consuming less scarce natural resources, such as water.

One such example offered is Agroscope, a centre for agricultural research in Switzerland. The centre has deployed real-time sensors that measure soil moisture, crop growth, weather data and animal movements. These sensors have allowed farmers to decrease the amount of nitrogen fertilizer use by roughly 10%, without any corresponding loss in crop yield.

Broadband and 5G, as the European Commission makes clear, lay the foundation for the green and digital transformation of the economy, regardless if we talk about transport and energy, healthcare and education, or manufacturing and agriculture.

Few countries have been as quick as Switzerland to see the potential in 5G and commit. In 2019, Swisscom switched…