IBC
Mobile World Congress in Barcelona was an
understandably low-key affair that showcased 5G gains, 6G plans and metaversian
visions of the future.
article here
Everything seems trivial in the face of the Russian
onslaught in Ukraine, not least a conference famous for its visions of the
economic and societal benefits to humanity of mobile coverage.
Telefónica Chairman & CEO José María
Álvarez-Pallete, however, gave an impassioned keynote.
“The complete eradication of hunger and poverty is
for the first time in our history a possible achievement,” he began. “Yet,
despite the fact that today the world is more connected than ever, we are
losing faith in ourselves and our future. The reason is that the link between
material progress and ethical progress has been blurred. The [current action]
in Ukraine has reminded us that technology lacks values. Technology gives us
power to change and do more, but that power can be used for good and bad. When
it is used for hyper-individualistic values instead of solidarity, empathy or
mere connection between people [it sows] distrust.”
This was a sober start to the world’s biggest mobile
technology conference, but it got lighter.
Mats Granryd, Director General of mobile industry
body GSMA, proceeded to talk about Star Wars, Blade Runner and Total Recall. Think
about how much those classic science fiction films got right about the future,
he said. “Space travel, human-like robots, self-driving vehicles and absolutely
no cables anywhere. They imagined the future and brought it to life. So, what
type of tomorrow are we dreaming of? What type of reality do we want to
create?”
5G
– update on rollout
Underpinning the telco industry’s current investment
plans is 5G. The GSMA revealed the latest figures for rollout in its annual
Global Mobile Economy Report that coincided with the show.
The total number of 5G connections is expected to
top 1 billion this year, and by the end of 2025 will account for around a
quarter of total mobile connections worldwide.
In 2021, mobile technologies and services generated $4.5
trillion of economic value, equating to 5% of global GDP, the report said, on
path to reach $5 trillion in 2025. 5G is expected to benefit all economic
sectors of the global economy during this period, with services and
manufacturing experiencing the most impact.
Meanwhile, the average retail price for a 5G phone
has now fallen below $500, with devices under $150 available from some vendors,
such as Realme. This bodes well for 5G adoption in less wealthy markets and
opens the door to innovative services built around the technology.
In terms of coverage, Vodafone CEO Nick Read said
South Korea had 90% of its population covered, China 60%, the US 45%. “Europe
is under 10% with Africa barely at the starting line”, he said. Europe will
only catch up “if we reverse the fragmentation of the sector, otherwise it will
be the passive bystander of the new tech order. We all need to face this
challenge head on and resolve it together,” he added.
The GSMA also said that mobile operators are facing
a capex hike of over $600 billion worldwide between now and 2025, roughly 85%
of which will be in 5G networks.
Much of the argument by execs at MWC is framed
around its call for regulatory and policy frameworks “conducive” to that
investment such as “adopting a balanced approach to collecting revenues through
taxes and fees on the mobile sector, without jeopardising medium-term
investment and economic growth”.
Metaverse enters the picture
“We are living in the biggest technological
evolution in human history and its impact will be four times as big as the
industrial revolution,” declared Álvarez-Pallete. “We are entering a new era of
super connectivity.”
He continued: “The pandemic is like a time machine
accelerating further digitisation and this is irreversible. Ultra-broadband is
already here; processing and storage capacity is growing exponentially going to
the cloud; VR and enhanced reality is changing how we experience everything.
More is coming - blockchain, quantum computing, edge compute and AI. A new
immersive world is almost here with web3 and the metaverse.”
Ah yes, the metaverse. It will also undoubtedly
start as a niche service, given the connectivity and device requirements.
However, the momentum behind applications seeking to incorporate AR and VR with
social media and the cloud is growing.
Meta used the occasion to announce the Metaverse
Innovation Hub, a research centre in Madrid to be set up with Spanish telco
Telefónica, intended to help operators and partners get ready for metaverse
applications.
In a Tech@Facebook post, Meta’s VP of
Connectivity Dan Rabinovitsj said video streaming will need to be faster in the
metaverse, because headsets need more pixels.
“Streaming a 720p video on a standard smartphone
screen requires 1.3 to 1.6Mbps of downlink throughput, and on a smartphone held
at arm’s length, 720p resolution is sufficient to achieve human retinal
resolution. But on a head-mounted display sitting just centimetres from the
eyes, retina-grade resolutions will need to be many orders of magnitude larger,
even beyond 4K resolutions.”
Korean operator SK Telecom debuted its ‘4D
Metaverse’ display where visitors could take a ride on a giant swooping robot
arm and get a glimpse of a future virtual world.
Telefónica’s Álvarez-Pallete pointed out that the
technology underpinning this new immersive reality “will be the most advanced
infrastructure built to move the world forward. We have a reason to make sure
this new reality mirrors the best of our democracy and open society - the best
of our values.”
“We need a new social contract,” he said.
Avatars for everyone at Weta
Microsoft’s plans to buy gaming giant Activision
Blizzard for $68.7 billion play into a long-term vision which puts gaming as a
key component of the future virtual experience.
The $1.6 billion acquisition by video game software
developer Unity of VFX powerhouse Weta is widely viewed as a sign that it is
exploring monetisation opportunities in gaming and beyond.
Overseeing that sale was Prem Akkaraju, CEO of
WetaFX, who presented digital character Junior from the 2019 film Gemini Man starring
Will Smith. Gollum – also animated at Weta on the back of Andy Serkis’
performance – was the first photoreal CG character on film, he said, and Junior
“was the first full digital double from head to toe”.
The pact with Unity means that the technologies that
went into making such leading-edge characters will be made available to
everyone.
He implied that Weta’s software that went into
building Pandora for director James Cameron in Avatar 1, 2 and 3 could be opened
up to builders of virtual worlds in films, games and sports.
“Imagine what the world will look like when the
tools that made Junior, typically only available in companies like mine, are
now available to any future 3D artist,” he said. “Any artist out there that has
a dream and a device can make such compelling immersive content.”
“So, the way we look at Weta now is not only do we
create content but we create creators that create content.”
Collective
action on climate
Telia CEO Allison Kirkby was among many execs using
the MWC stage to add concern for the climate.
“The race to net zero is one of the most important
catalysts in the coming year,” she said. “This requires the fastest transition
in the history of business. We need radically accelerated innovation when it
comes to resource efficiency and using technology to improve existing
operations.”
AWS launched a carbon footprint cloud tool to help
businesses understand their emissions output.
AWS is attempting to become net-zero carbon by 2040
and said its new tool will help other businesses achieve their own climate
goals. That includes broadcasters where to-date data about the carbon cost of
production from cloud providers has not been forthcoming.
This was a key finding from an IBC Accelerator
project on sustainable live production. A collective effort involving BT Sport,
Sky, Microsoft and the Premier League prompted Microsoft to engage with the
industry directly on the matter. Both Microsoft and AWS have pledged to share
their data, opening what has up to now been a black box with the aim of
producing metrics that can be used to inform future decisions regarding
sustainable productions
During a keynote, AWS CEO Adam Selipsky said his
team hoped the new carbon-focused cloud tools would “help customers move faster
towards our shared sustainability commitments”.
6G
being prepared
For all the talk about 5G, the industry is preparing
for its successor and at a pace that could mean commercialisation around the
end of the decade.
At the event, Jessica Rosenworcel, Chair of the US’ Federal
Communications Commission, spoke about the importance of paving the way for 6G.
In particular she wants US telcos and government to start identifying midband
spectrum right now that can support faster speeds and wider coverage beyond 5G.
“Let’s not forget the lessons we’ve learned with millimetre wave
spectrum and 5G,” she said. “These waves are fragile. And, while there’s a lot
of this spectrum to deploy, it doesn’t travel very far, and right now deploying
it is awfully costly.”
She added: “These are early days, but if we’ve
learnt anything from our experience rolling out 5G, it’s that wireless service
matters for economic and national security.”
South Korea aims to commercialise 6G services as
soon as 2028, the country’s science minister said in another MWC conference
session.
“We are continuing our preparations for the 6G era
with the aim of commercialising 6G from 2028 to 2030… It will offer a network
50 times faster than the current service and an expanded coverage of up to
10km,” Lim Hye-sook said.
South Korea became the first country to
commercialise 5G services in April 2019. She said that it is talking with
counterparts in the US, Finland and Indonesia to discuss partnerships in 5G, 6G
and metaverse.
There has been a flurry of announcements related to
6G in recent months, with governments and industry players outlining plans to
move the concept beyond just a vision to identify use cases and roadmaps.
Orange has laid out its view of future 6G use cases,
including ‘holoportation’ and large-scale digital twin technology; the Chinese
government plans to prioritise development of 6G to 2025; in North America, the
University of Texas has launched a 6G research centre (6G@UT) with the support
of AT&T, Samsung, Qualcomm, Nvidia and InterDigital; meanwhile MIT and
Ericsson have entered into a research collaboration to design new hardware for
5G and 6G networks.
The GSMA said: “Since it takes nearly a decade to
move from research to commercialisation, today’s 6G discussions are timely and
necessary to ensure equal opportunities and a global approach to 6G
standardisation and development.
No comments:
Post a Comment