COVID-19 has already had a profound impact on health care and public services in countries around the world. Instead of weeks or months, hospitals and health-care providers must adapt to new ways of working and equipment in a matter of hours or days. Businesses, employees, teachers and students have adapted to online services such as online communication, distance learning and remote entertainment.
As we all know, in order to combat COVID-19, China has built Huoshenshan and Leishenshan hospitals in Wuhan. Operators need to provide broadband network to the hospitals quickly. Compared with optical fiber, 5G has the advantage of rapid deployment. China mobile, China telecom and China Unicom are two hospital provides network services, in addition to the basic network of "emergency", also provides the robot in order to reduce the risk of exposure, 5G unmanned vehicles used in distributed temperature monitoring, spray disinfection and health supplies, use 5G cloud collaboration tools by HD video with CT scanning, X-ray, and online consulting services.
As work and education move online during the lockdown, 5G plays a role in improving broadband network performance in communities. This effect is most evident in education, where high-quality home broadband networks are particularly important in rural and underdeveloped areas because of the lack of access to school. In China, the ministry of industry and information technology has again asked operators to expand 4G and 5G coverage to support online education. In the United States, Ericsson partnered with the Vermont phone company to deploy 4G and 5G networks and provide modems and routers to homes and free high-speed wireless Internet access for students. According to the data, 4G and 5G sales continue to grow, while carriers are offering 5G FWA services at discounted prices: South African Rain's offer of unlimited 5G home service for 699 rand ($38) a month has helped double weekly demand, while Saudi Zain's low-cost 5G plan has boosted demand by 25%.
Will 5G speed up economic recovery?
We have noted that the Chinese government wants China's three major carriers to speed up the deployment of 5G and focus on promoting economic growth through infrastructure construction. China's ministry of industry and information technology has issued a policy encouraging local governments to open up public buildings and utilities for operators to build 5G base stations. The government will also work with grid companies to reduce the cost of electricity on 5G networks. After the completion of the spectrum auction in March, the Hungarian government is also eager to complete the early deployment of 5G in some key areas, such as hospitals, universities and major transportation lines, to help society cope with the health crisis. It is clear that the Hungarian government has recognized the important role 5G will play in the economic recovery after this crisis.
On the first anniversary of the commercial use of 5G in South Korea, a strategic committee of 12 government departments outlined the important role 5G will play in leading the economic recovery they see in the wake of COVID-19. Government to encourage South Korea company improve its participation in the global 5G market at the same time, also hope that South Korea operators continue to increase in domestic 5G coverage, the operators have to be in the first half of 2020 the budget of the investment increased from 2.7 trillion won (us $2.3 billion) to 4 trillion won (us $3.3 billion), including more than 2000 locations of indoor coverage. The South Korean government has fully recognized the importance of stimulating the economy through the creation of new markets and the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries through 5G, and has focused on the development of smart factories, smart cities, digital medical care, self-driving cars and 5G V2X and drones in 2020.
"5G is the core component needed to create an IT environment for enterprises that is virtualized, agile, software-defined, and particularly responsive to the user experience," according to the report titled "5G and its impact on the digital transformation of enterprises." The COVID-19 pandemic sweeping the globe is by no means an "opportunity," but it is prompting many companies to accelerate the digital transformation process, and 5G will undoubtedly play an important role in it.
