5G and IoT will change our world! That’s what we’ve been promised. For years, we have been hearing how 5G will have us working at lightning speed and how IoT will have objects and devices around us operating autonomously. As we enter the 5G and IoT world, let’s explore what this means for mobility and what is on the horizon for businesses.
Where 5G is Today
Let’s start with the fact that not all 5G offerings are the same. Major carriers launched their 5G networks over the last couple years, and those networks have been changing and developing. AT&T initially launched their small footprint, low-band 5G network in 2019, soon followed by T-Mobile with a nationwide 600 MHz 5G, leading to the word’s first standalone 5G network. In 2020 when T-Mobile acquired Sprint, T-Mobile’s 600 MHz then combined with Sprint’s 2.5 GHz. Verizon launched later that year with its own nationwide 5G network, improving coverage through dynamic spectrum sharing, or DSS; they have since lowered their speed making them on par with other networks. Today, these carriers all have a form of low-band and high-band spectrum, with T-Mobile also having ample mid-band spectrum.
There have been recent developments in the C-Band spectrum, with Verizon announcing the results of the FCC C-Band auction. Verizon succeeded in more than doubling its existing mid-band spectrum holdings by adding an average of 161 MHz of C-Band spectrum in every available market nationwide. The carrier is expecting to make 5G Ultra Wideband performance via the new spectrum available to 100 million people in an initial 46 markets in the next 12 months. More than 70% of the 5G devices in the hands of customers today are C-Band compatible, including iPhone 12, Samsung Galaxy S21 series and Google Pixel 5.
Aram Kelekian, TBI's Mobility Channel Manager, shared what this means for mobility. "Verizon will soon offer increased mobility and broadband services, more than doubling its existing mid-band by adding an average of 161 MHz of C-Band nationwide. The result will be a 120% increase in Veizon's spectrum holdings in sub-6 gigahertz bands," said Kelekian.
How 5G Is Improving Mobility
The demand for high-speed 5G is being propelled by businesses having a significant number of employees working partially or fully remote. Many of those employees are doing business from their mobile devices, needing to transmit large amounts of data in reasonable time. 5G gives them the power to do this, much faster and easier than before, meaning businesses can function at the rate that they would if employees were onsite. That is huge.
Along with the speed brought by 5G, it helps mobility devices to improve energy usage and to maintain connectivity. Overall, 5G brings the increased bandwidth, faster speed and low latency needed for business models of today to remain productive and efficient.
What Role IoT Plays
As organizations are encountering a new era where mobile and wearable technology are being used for business purposes and running across company networks, it’s clear that IoT is impacting enterprise mobility. Connected devices combined with the information and data available through mobility can help companies further increase their employee productivity. One of the biggest benefits of IoT is the ability to capture, share and act on all this data being collected across devices. As companies become more familiar with IoT, and as solutions and capabilities develop, these connections with mobility will become more useful. Businesses can and will be using all this captured data to make more educated decisions around business strategy, operations and investments.
The Future of Mobility
As we incorporate more smart devices (and we will) and IoT products into our day-to-day business, 5G will enable better performance of those devices, processing information faster and having the bandwidth to keep all these growing number of devices connected. Since these devices are connecting users with platforms, other devices and across locations, security needs to be top of mind in planning and decision-making. Keeping connections secure is more important than ever, especially as speeds ramp up, giving attacks and breaches the power to do more damage quicker. IoT devices will be sending more information in the field and across mobile devices, increasing the opportunities to attack. Greater bandwidth can also lend way to more devastating DDoS attacks.
5G and IoT are creating a new wave of wireless technology, changing the mobile ecosystem, building our new opportunities for selling partners. The power of these technologies will be extremely impactful in driving the next generation of business and you need to be preparing your customers.
TBI continues to grow our mobility practice as we focus on 5G and the rapid growth of IoT. Mobility Channel Manager, Aram, Kelekian, focuses solely on helping partners to grow their voice and mobility business. If you would like to know ways to discover new opportunities in the current landscape or how you should be advising your current mobility customers, email Aram at akelekian@tbicom.com or connect with your Channel Manager.
Use these mobility resources:
- The Mobility Breakdown
- Selling Mobility Workforce Solutions
- Mobility Providers
- TBI and Verizon Playbook: Adding Mobility to Your Portfolio
- Mobility Training on the University of TBI
- Bruce's Best Practices: Mobility (learn about mobility team and project management available at TBI)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
As a Senior Marketing Manager at TBI, Stephani spearheads campaign strategy and marketing programs designed to drive awareness around emerging technologies and generate demand amongst our providers. Her primary focus is to support and help develop business units at TBI including Omni Center, Channel Sales Enablement, Partner Referral Program and Tech Guidance. You can reach Stephani at sfitzsimmons@tbicom.com or connect on LinkedIn.
