Why 5G mobile networks will unlock advanced digital transformation

We are on the verge of a seismic shift, as enterprises and the public sector embrace full digital transformation. And with that shift comes a simple truth: No high-performing mobile connectivity, no advanced digitalization.

We see three major, interdependent cross-industry trends accelerating over the next five to 10 years: electrification, automation, and digitalization. Realizing the potential of these trends depends on three connected technologies: mobile, cloud, and AI. Working together, these technologies will boost efficiency and productivity, while also enabling digital, user-friendly services, immersive experiences, and more sustainable solutions.

Without mobile, neither cloud nor AI can truly scale. This is why it’s so important to fully implement this next wave of advanced connectivity – specifically, 5G’s superior capabilities. Similar to the previous shifts in technology that digitalized consumers and drove a rapid expansion of the app economy, this next wave of mobile will unleash innovation across sectors, reshape enterprises and unlock new network value.

In recent years, there has been a fundamental shift in the way we build mobile networks. At Ericsson, we now build what we call open programmable networks. These are resilient, energy-efficient, and ensure a superior user experience in terms of availability, reliability and speed.

At the same time, a programmable network can be managed through software, which allows for quick changes and flexible control over how the network acts and what services can be launched. This enables faster, more secure and differentiated connectivity, which is essentially priority-based service levels that provide tailored solutions for each enterprise or government customer.

We are also changing the way innovators, entrepreneurs, and enterprises can take advantage of unique network features. While the mobile network is the biggest platform the world has ever seen, it has only been operating in one direction – from the network to the user. We want to make it two-directional, so that developers can interact with the network and use the unique network capabilities to innovate.

We are driving this fundamental shift through network APIs. These are standardized interfaces that enable mobile networks and applications to talk to each other, and empower developers to call up specific network resources, such as quality of service, speed, latency and location, with a simple command. Our ambition is to see millions of developers using 5G technologies to experiment, innovate, and build game-changing apps.

Last year, we announced a new partnership with some of the world’s largest telecom operators. They will open their networks to make advanced network capabilities easily accessible through a global platform for aggregated network APIs. This will result in new use cases for banking, logistics, and manufacturing, among others we can’t even imagine yet.

Many industry sectors today use proprietary solutions and lack a single connectivity technology base. This limits scale benefits, such as greater efficiency and lower costs. Some areas where our standardized networks can transform an industry include, among others, private networks, networks for first responders, and connections to satellites called non-terrestrial networks.

Together with network APIs and other innovation, these new kinds of networks will enable manufacturers to redesign production processes, retailers to use cellular as the primary access technology across all locations, and emergency services and messaging to be available in every corner of the globe. We see these productivity gains first hand in our 5G connected factory in Texas, including a doubling of labour productivity from new technologies such as digital twins.

Let’s look more closely at three examples of next wave of mobile innovation:

The companies, countries and regions that lead with 5G today will be the economic and political powerhouses of tomorrow, as they will reap the lion’s share of innovation. Just as railroads catalyzed industrialization, next-level mobile networks will reshape the economic and political landscape and drive sustainable growth.

The US and China have thrived in the consumer platform economy because they were the first countries to build out nationwide 4G networks. India, the US, and China are already racing ahead in the 5G era, along with parts of the Middle East. For example, China has already deployed more than 10,000 private networks to digitalize enterprises and realize massive productivity gains. And India has doubled down on its 5G efforts to deploy more than one million 5G cells within a year.

Europe, on the other hand, has fallen behind. Collectively, it now faces a choice that will have a far-reaching impact – either continue on its path of leading the world in regulation, or start to compete on innovation and technologies such as 5G, as my colleague Jenny Lindqvist writes in a new blog post.

I am an optimist by nature, and I have always believed you shape your own future. Digitalization is only going to accelerate, and the telecom industry has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create transformational change in societies across the globe. Countries have a huge choice to make. Are they going to commit to technological leadership, or will they stand on the sideline?

It may be challenging to collectively unstick ourselves from the ways we worked in the past – whether at a business, in a government, or within the telecom industry itself. But as my dad used to say: “When is the best time to plant a tree? 40 years ago. When is the second-best time? Today. Just get started.”