Much of what is said today, in the telecommunications space, focuses on the deployment of 5G technology, the new mobile networks that will enhance the conditions for the fourth industrial revolution (4IR). However, it is actually 4G technology - LTE - that is providing vitally important connectivity during the current Covid-19 pandemic, when communities need it most.
Fully named Long Term Evolution, LTE is the network technology used by 52% of the world's mobile devices. As such, it is this 4G technology that underpins innovative digital initiatives to support communities during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The pandemic and confinement have subjected humanity to deadly challenges. People, countries and organizations are facing these challenges, often using our evolving telecommunication resources. However, the new era has brought opportunities that innovators could also explore, thanks to 4G connectivity. It will remain so in the medium term.
“Until 2025, LTE will continue to do the heavy lifting, '' said Henry Calvert, head of the future 2020 Networking program at Global System for Mobile Communications (GSMA),“ Our 4G networks will remain essential… They will continue to be important over the next five to seven years, '' he said.
In his intervention at the recent GSMA LTE 2020 conference, Calvert said that during the pandemic, LTE stood out in providing telehealth and telemedicine, as well as expanding network services to support points for patients through hospitals and other health services. Cheers.
In addition to the significant role that 4G plays in supporting health services, it also meets the data and connectivity needs inherent in the new lifestyles that have been shaped since confinement.
Calvert said operators reported an increase in data usage per customer of more than 70% during the pandemic, driven by online services and consumption of video-on-demand services like Netflix, which recently reported adding 15,8 million subscribers in one year - more than double expectations.
“There was even an appeal to video-on-demand providers to reduce the quality of the videos they deploy and, encourage people to use standard definition instead of high definition TV, to then preserve the capacity of networks for education, health and online business, ”he said.
"As the transformation continues, the focus is on expanding 4G capacity," he said. "But the transformation to 5G will obviously be necessary in the future, to respond to online demands."
During the COVID-19 pandemic, 4G networks were also instrumental in supporting contact tracking applications, which can remotely locate and notify contacts of infected individuals, always protecting users' privacy. LTE networks have also provided free data to support contact tracking, doing their utmost to ensure that the infection does not spread any further.
LTE also supports recent changes in lifestyles, as there is a large proportion of the population working, educating their children, buying and socializing from home, using digital platforms.
LTE is of paramount importance for this new paradigm, and should therefore remain the priority infrastructure in the short term, while societies face the pandemic.
“Our GSMA intelligence groups indicate that there will be a short-term drop in the deployment of 5G,” explained Calvert. “But it will quickly recover, reaching normal levels. We still see the launch of 5G networks, as we now know that responding to the data demand served by our LTE networks can only improve with 5G. ”
