“5G will eventually have a significant impact on how businesses work,” he says. “Technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning offer great potential, but require high bandwidth and low latency to achieve optimal performance.”
Faster data transfer speeds and lower latency rates will make any cloud service or application a business uses more responsive and capable, while reducing employee downtime. Small businesses that use collaboration technology to communicate internally will enjoy a much better experience. Those gathering data with internet-connected sensors will find they can expand such deployments efficiently.
5G Competition Heats Up
Several other telecommunications firms are conducting trials. Verizon says its 5G Home program will deliver typical speeds of about 300 megabits per second, for example.
5G promises to make businesses — and the U.S. economy — more innovative, resilient and competitive, says Karen Kerrigan, president and CEO of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council. Kerrigan, who expects that broad commercial deployments of 5G technology will take place over the next two to three years, said she met a food truck owner who told her the technology is critical to the growth of her business. The business relies on cloud technology to process payments.
“From her perspective, faster speed and better reliability would mean the world for her business,” Kerrigan says. “She would be doing more sales and be more productive. And every penny counts when you are a small business."