Anyone walking around MWC this year or looking at the keynote speeches will only see two letters dominating the discussion: 5G. Not just MWC but all of Barcelona is living and breathing 5G this year. While in 2018 AI and VR were still big themes for the industry trade show, these have been pushed to the background this year.
5G is of course the next big development in mobile and connectivity. However, it will still be at least a year - a few countries excepted - until it reaches the actual commercial roll-out. Many countries have not even released the necessary spectrum, and mass market devices are not expected until 2020.
Nevertheless, the stands and visitors at MWC give the appearance that 5G is the only game in town. The first smartphones were unveiled ahead of the congress and remained the focus for the following days. Across the conference hall, there is barely a stand that doesn't have something to say about 5G.
Anyone talking more about 4G did not see a lot of activity around their stand. A small manufacturer showing 4G smartwatches in Hall 6 had no one, while the nearby stands showing 5G equipment and tracking software were overwhelmed with visitors looking for information.
Time for networks yet
The picture was the same with all the major network equipment suppliers, which competed to announce the most new 5G contracts and products. 5G development, 5G antennas, 5G backbone infrastructure, 5G core network architecture, etc. etc. Huawei, Ericsson and Nokia showed off their newest 5G products and proclaimed they are ready to quickly connect the entire world to 5G.
Of course 5G roll-out is something that will take years yet. The transition from 3G to 4G took over 10 years, and many countries only recently reached national LTE coverage or are still working on it.
The operators are just starting to recover from a period of high investment in 4G spectrum and networks, and are not necessarily jumping at the prospect of starting the whole process again. It's highly optimistic to assume that many will ramp up spending again so soon to roll out 5G quickly, especially as standards and devices are still a ways away. Furthermore, good business cases for applications and services still need to be developed.
Notably Huawei cancelled in Barcelona all but one of its planned press meetings to show 5G business applications and experiences. While there are probably other reasons for this, it does underline the challenge the market faces in developing convincing 5G applications in the coming period. Hopefully at MWC 2020 we will see some of the results, and the enthusiasm (and readiness to invest) will increase among operators.
