How will 5G impact cultural change in the UK in business?
The world is becoming more digitally connected every single day, in fact it’s expected that there’ll be more than 20bn connected devices by 2020. The Internet of Things is now a real possibility and a real possibility, which will require much more bandwidth, much higher service quality, and the ability to support a vastly greater density of connected devices.
5G will also have much lower latency meaning businesses can download and upload files quickly and easily, without worrying about network delays or issues.
For the business world which is moving at a rapid pace with technology adoption, we need to provide our customers with 5G networking, ensuring they can benefit from emerging innovations and ultimately transform their business.
How is 5G different to 4G?
5G is a step-change in mobile networking and promises exponentially faster download speeds, greater latency and better reliability. Building on the capabilities of 4G, 5G boasts speed uplifts of around 100-150Mbps, with some users able to achieve speeds of 1Gbps on their 5G enabled smartphones. As well as improved bandwidth, a key feature of the technology is greatly reduced levels of network latency, making 5G more responsive than other mobile technology standards before it.
When will 5G be accessible to all?
This is the first phase of our 5G roll out, which is focused on using the combined power of 4G and 5G to give our customers the fastest, most reliable mobile broadband experience they’ve ever had.
We’ll enable many more sites with 5G over the course of 2019 and 2020, with our engineers upgrading more than 100 sites every month.
So we’re very much at the start of an exciting journey. That’s also because the capabilities of 5G will build over time as the technology matures.
How can businesses leverage 5G and benefit from mobile-first?
The availability of 5G combined with a growing global workforce, a shift in media consumption and an increase in remote employees, has meant SMEs are able to adopt a mobile-first approach easier than ever before. In fact, recent BT research demonstrates that the business industry – from small businesses right through to global enterprises – are very aware of 5G’s benefits, particularly in bringing fast and reliable connectivity to mobile devices, reinforcing mobile-first as a very necessary and profitable option for SMEs.
By 2020, more than half of the global workforce will be Millennials who have been raised in the digital revolution and expect mobility, flexibility and a stronger sense of work-life balance. Organisations that understand this and prioritise the needs of this next generation will likely experience much higher levels of employee satisfaction and well-being.