5G for the Connected World

Foreword by Tommi Uitto

It has been said that hyper‐successes often happen in business when three distinct and major inflection points or disruptions coincide. Not just one, not two, but three. With that theory, we can explain the hyper‐success of GSM. First, there was a new global and open standard for mobile communication technology, driving up volumes and allowing for an ecosystem to emerge. Second, deregulation took place, allowing for competition with the incumbent, previously monopolistic operators. Third, electronics had evolved to a point, where mobile devices have become affordable for a bigger mass of the population. And sure enough, mobile telephony proliferated throughout the world and made people's lives more enjoyable, secure, efficient and effective. Obviously, businesses also benefited from the ability of their employees to stay connected with one another and Internet regardless of their location. With the advent of 5G, we have the ingredients for something equally profound to happen. You see, the introduction of 5G as a wireless technology is more or less coinciding with adoption of both cloud computing and Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Machine Learning (ML) by operators. Looking back, we can certainly be satisfied with the improvements that 3G and 4G brought as mobile communication technologies, as well as the new device paradigms, pricing models and business models that were introduced in parallel with them. But 5G can become a much bigger step for the humankind, ...