Views of Ericsson’s Nunzio Mirtillo

Today as we talk about the importance of technology and telecoms, you would all agree with me that mobile networks are a critical infrastructure for many aspects of our everyday life. The COVID-19 pandemic has placed more stringent demands on the networks for reliable communications, both from consumers and enterprises. However, the mobile networks have remained resilient and continue to deliver the performance and reliability required at this time to support everyone in this hour of need.

The pandemic has highlighted the impact connectivity has on our lives and has acted as a catalyst for rapid change. The importance of continued digitalisation as a means for ensuring long-term economic growth cannot be understated, particularly as the world prepares to embrace new 5G systems. It is clear the way forward will be built on digital infrastructure, innovation, and inclusion.

A strong digital infrastructure will act as basis for open innovation and fair and equal access to new opportunities created by digitalisation.

The importance of digital infrastructure

We are convinced that high-speed mobile connectivity like 5G will be instrumental in providing a stable platform for innovation and economic growth, and especially  when we factor in the big potential of digitalising the industry verticals such as the healthcare, energy and utilities, transportation and agriculture, to name a few.

The interesting part is that when the current 4G networks were being built around the globe, the potential of what 4G could do, was not predictable. But smart minds understood the power of that 4G network, enabling these innovators to lead in the app economy. Just look at some of the great global innovation that happened with 4G, Netflix, Uber, Spotify and more. The early adopters of 4G benefitted greatly and became global leaders.

While we may not know the killer app for 5G, we can make educated guesses based on the potential for consumers, use cases will include immersive entertainment based on VR or AR to different kinds of gaming such as cloud gaming or multiplayer gaming, as well as 3D-shopping. According to an Ericsson study, communication service providers in South East Asia, India, and Oceania, could earn $297 billion in 5G-enabled consumer revenues by 2030.

Based on 5G Business potential study for India, the business opportunity of leveraging 5G to digitalise industries for Indian operators stands at $17 billion by 2030, with manufacturing, healthcare and energy and utilities expected to be the top three contributors.

The past 6-8 years have been about massive data usage and the shift in consumer behavior, the next decade will be one of connecting everything that can be connected. While 4G gave us the app economy, 5G will be the greatest open innovation platform ever.

Value created on top of the 5G network will be multiples of the network investments. We are seeing countries accelerating their 5G rollouts. At Ericsson, we are already deploying 5G in 70 live networks across the globe and we are seeing early signs of service providers monetizing the 5G opportunity, with positive ARPU trends and growing revenues in pioneering 5G markets.

If we look at the projections for India from the Ericsson Mobility Report, 5G will represent around 27 percent of mobile subscriptions in India at the end of 2026, estimated at about 350 million subscriptions. LTE will continue to be the dominant technology in India in 2026 accounting for 63 per cent of mobile subscriptions. Mobile broadband technologies are predicted to reach 91 per cent by 2026, when the total number of mobile broadband subscriptions in India is set to reach close to 1.2 billion.

In coming years, the AI will continue to expand across both enterprise and society at large. For example, traffic in future networks will be generated not only by human communication but also by connected, intelligent machines that are embedded with AI and supported by AI-to-AI communication.

Digital inclusion and growing digital skills

The benefits of 5G investments will be experienced both by today’s workforce and by the workforce of the future, as we estimate that by 2030 two-thirds of the global workforce will use the 5G platform. It is critical therefore that there is public private partnershiptowards closing the digital skills divide and promoting an agenda which ensures digital inclusion.

The State of Broadband 2020 report estimates that there are twice as many people today who use the Internet compared to 2010. This rise in digital literacy, together with the imminent period of rapid digitalization of the economy, means that ensuring fair and equal access to both education and future job markets will rest on the extent of digital inclusion within our societies.

Today, technology plays a much bigger role in the quality and scope of how we learn,  what we learn, with a growing emphasis on programming, robotics, AI and automation; and how we can use it in the job market, with digital skillsets increasingly becoming a prerequisite of tomorrow’s workforce.

(Excerpts from the speech delivered by Nunzio Mirtillo, Senior Vice President and Head of Market Area South East Asia, Oceania & India, Ericsson at the India Mobile Congress 2020)