Preview: IBC365’s 5G week

When US telcos AT&T and Verizon first launched their 5G networks at the end of 2018, they kicked off a raft of deployments worldwide for the next generation of mobile technology. Japan, Korea, the UK, Germany and several of the Nordic countries have all began rollouts.

Yet it is still early days for 5G – initially deployments were accelerated as telcos look for new revenue opportunities – meaning the media and entertainment sector has yet to feel the benefits of what has been hailed as a revolutionary shift by some areas of the industry.

At IBC2019, 5G was among the hot topics being demonstrated, but 2020 could be the year that 5G begins to meet its potential, driven in part by a wave of major sporting events.

The 2020 Winter Olympics in Japan will see a number of trials taking place, including 5G broadcast and in-stadium connectivity. There’s also Euro 2020, which will be broadcast across Europe. And much, much more.

With Mobile World Congress (MWC) just around the corner, on the week commencing 10 February IBC365 will take a closer look at the opportunities 5G offers to the media and entertainment industry.

Satellites powering a 5G future

We’ve already seen a significant boom in the satellite industry, with the likes of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Greg Wyler (OneWeb) all launching a whole host of new satellites in order to boost connectivity worldwide.

These micro satellites will initially offer only 4G connectivity but will all be launched with 5G in mind – a simple software patch will bring 5G to some of the hardest reach areas of the world, meaning more access to fast streaming services, opening new opportunities for the media and entertainment space.

Interview: BBC R&D

The BBC’s Research and development division has been at the forefront of developing 5G use cases for the broadcast sector. IBC365 sits down with BBC R&D to discuss some of these use cases, and why 5G will play such an important role in the industry’s future.

IoT and broadcast

5G is set to play a key role in the growth of the internet of things. Broadcasters and other content creators will have much more consumer data to draw on as a result of IoT. But how do they negotiate the new security challenges and avoid the danger of ‘digital fatigue’? IBC365 investigates.

Beyond 5G

With 5G deployments now underway, the question is what comes next? Some R&D units are already casting an eye at the sixth generation of mobile technology, which is likely to be deployed around 2030. One of those is Interdigital – IBC365 speaks to the firm about 6G.