The Journal of mHealth Vol 2 Issue 1 (February 2015) | Page 35

5G and the Implication for Digital Healthcare

5G and the Implication for Digital
Healthcare
At last year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, one of the
hottest topics of discussion was the future of 5G — a nextgeneration mobile communications network that would offer
exponential gains in both speed and capacity over existing 4G
networks.
Speaking at the event, Vice President of the EU Commission
Neelie Kroes suggested that mHealth could emerge as one
of the biggest applications of new 5G networks. As wearable
device use increases, it will lead to new types of “sentient”
health devices that are aware of real-time changes in your health
— and are capable of relaying that information to health providers and loved ones. It might also lead to innovations like
“remote surgery.”

What is 5G?
When asked to answer that question in Barcelona, the heads of
Europe’s top mobile operators — the likes of Ericsson, AlcatelLucent, Orange and Nokia – couldn’t even define what 5G was,
but were nonetheless committed to spending billions of dollars
to make 5G a reality in Europe. The same timetable exists in
Asia, where Japan and South Korea also plan to invest billions
to build the next 5G networks by 2020.
"I have no idea what 5G is,” began Hossein Moiin, CTO of
Nokia Solutions and Networks, one of the five founding companies behind the European 5G Infrastructure Public-Private
Partnership. But that’s not a concern, as the massive investment
will fund a project to define it.”
If 2G networks were for voice, 3G networks for voice and data,
and 4G networks for broadband Internet connectivity, what
exactly do you get when you deliver a 5G network?
Marcus Weldon, president of Alcatel-Lucent’s research arm
Bell Labs, offered a number of characteristics that 5G networks
should have. “They should be dynamically configured, dynamically scalable, and distributed not centralised,” he said. “And
rather than making a best effort at delivering all traffic, they
should offer best efforts only for traffic that needs it.
Where the first four generations of mobile networks were
distinguished, at least when introduced, by the frequencies in
which they operated, 5G networks should operate in any spectrum—high frequencies or low, licensed or unlicensed, shared
or dedicated”. He also suggested that they should not be limited
to just one type of waveform but should instead be a blend of
formats, rather than a pure standard.
He concluded by saying that 5G networks should be peoplecentric and should harvest energy from their environment in
order to operate.
Neelie Kroes, speaking at the event, called for bold steps towards

the adoption of 5G, "Let's find a global consensus on the scope
of 5G, its main technological constituents, and the timetable for
putting it in place. Let's work this out together. And let's work it
out soon: by the end of 2015, so all our citizens can get the 5G
boost as early as possible.”
By 2020 there will be more than thirty times as much mobile
internet traffic as there was in 2010. But this will not be the
same type of traffic as currently exists - Internet usage will not
only have grown thanks to the number of smartphones & tablets in use, but also because of the massive growth in machines
and sensors using the Internet to communicate, which require
more efficient and ubiquitous tech