Make no mistake: 5G will enable and accelerate innovation in nearly every field, ushering in a new era of productivity and industrial growth—from city centers to rural farms and factories across the country.
Work-from-home and “road warrior” employees will have reliable high-speed connectivity so they can get more done, wherever their day takes them. Building owners, city planning groups, and transportation authorities will have the connectivity to broadly deploy smart building, smart city, and connected transportation technology, enhancing experiences for workers, commuters, and even entire municipalities. Massive deployments of sensors and actuators will be used to track everything from temperature thresholds for perishables like vaccines to the volume of storm water runoff to mitigate severe weather. And that’s just some of what’s coming.
Here are just a few examples of how 5G may impact industry in the coming years:
Healthcare: It’s safe to say that 5G will dramatically affect healthcare. But while use cases like remote surgery keep getting all the hype (even though widespread adoption of this is still years out), nearer-term advancements could be just as (if not more) impactful. In the COVID-19 era, the ability for care providers and patients to interact virtually is a lifesaver, and 4G connectivity has made this modality widely accessible.
Where will T-Mobile’s 5G network make an impact? For the near-term, consider patients post-surgery or those affected by chronic diseases, who might normally spend days or weeks in the hospital recovering. Patients could get the immediate care they need in a professional setting but potentially return home sooner (even in rural areas) thanks to 24/7 monitoring via 5G-enabled wearables. For patients in need of in-home care, travelling nurses could also benefit from 5G mobile devices to onboard patients, review and submit prescriptions, and interact with doctors and other specialists via video conference.
Beyond remote monitoring and collaboration scenarios, in the longer-term 5G will be a key driver in enhancing medical research and utilizing data and artificial intelligence in diagnostics and testing. This will enable healthcare researchers and providers to advance preventive care by recognizing trends and anomalies more quickly and then treat patients before they become seriously ill.