COVID-19's Effect on 5G
- Lasya Pullakhandam
- Apr 10, 2020
- 2 min read
As millions of people are working remotely because of the stay-at-home orders, the importance of wireless networks has drastically increased. However, COVID-19 measures are causing serious delays and hindering the process to deploy 5G networks.
5G is a higher speed network that gives more bandwidth and lower latency. Generally, this means that the signal travels shorter distances and requires more cell sites for consistent coverage. Since there is a current shutdown of municipal offices and this work is considered to be nonessential, getting the permits is extremely difficult.
Not only can 5G help people through this period of isolation and the IOT, but it can directly impact dealing with the coronavirus. In Wuhan, a 5G network was installed in a specialist hospital. 5G-enabled robots can help reduce the medical staff's interaction with infected patients by taking measurements and dealing with smaller tasks. It can also allow medical equipment to be controlled by other centers across the country which helps the possibility of remote diagnosis.
2020 was supposed to be the year that 5G took off. Since there are new factors to look at like consumer confidence, availability of networks and more, the future of 5G needs to be put on hold. GSMA Intelligence's consumer survey revealed that most markets have a limited interest in 5G; now that these enterprises are worried about their financial future and stability, consumer interest has greatly declined. At the moment, improving the existing networks is the most that these engineers can do and these network strains are slowing down the 5G deployments. This is truly the most significant challenge that the mobile industry has faced in a long time.
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