5G is poised to change everything from healthcare to sports to community safety.


It's what supports the growth of AI, the internet of things, smart cities, and overall digital transformation.


T-Mobile's nationwide standalone 5G network helps power these efforts.

A tennis fan can experience what it's like to have a serve from a top-ranked player coming directly at them. A cardiac patient has instant access to a heart specialist 1,000 miles away. A motorist is alerted to slow down so that he doesn't collide with a pedestrian on crutches who is struggling to cross an intersection just around the corner.

The common thread of these varied scenarios might surprise you: 5G, the "fifth generation" of wireless network technology. It can provide significantly greater bandwidth and faster data transfer than the 4G network, and  has the potential to deliver speeds up to 200 times faster in ideal conditions.

What 5G really does is extend intelligence: It's the backbone that can enable the proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of things (IoT), smart cities, digital transformation, and other developments that will reshape the way we live, work, and imagine possibilities.

Making everyone an expert

Today, about 20% of the world's working population relies on technology — like laptops and phones, to do their jobs — said Parvin Mahajan, vice president, solution engineering and commercialization, T-Mobile, US. 

T-Mobile is the only provider of a standalone nationwide 5G network, putting it in a prime position to shake up that paradigm in the US. This also sets the stage for the proliferation of connected workers whose daily jobs will be enhanced by the intelligent technologies that 5G can support.

Field-service technicians who are dealing with a problem at a site will be able to use augmented reality, a computer-generated interactive experience, to connect with an expert at the home office and resolve an issue that previously would have taken several trips. Mahajan calls this a "game changer," because even technicians with a modest amount of training can use smart devices to dramatically increase their problem-solving ability.

"One of the challenges in the US, and in many developing countries where healthcare costs are rising, is there are not enough qualified physicians and experts to serve all the patient needs," Mahajan said. "We have had Wi-Fi networks and 4G networks, but finally we now have 5G networks with the potential for improved latency that can allow an expert who is hundreds or thousands of miles away to attend to those patients."

At Boston's Children Hospital, 5G will enable healthcare expertise to be extended beyond the hospital's walls to patients' homes. 

Heather Nelson, senior vice president and chief information officer for Boston Children's Hospital, said the hospital sees patients from all over the world. The reliability and security of T-Mobile's 5G network means "our care team members, our nurses, and our providers will be able to trust the technology, knowing they will be able to make quick decisions when they receive an alarm or alert from a patient's home monitor."

Uses for all industries

T-Mobile's 5G technology can be applied across all industries, for an ever-expanding number of use cases.

For example, the city of Bellevue, Washington uses the T-Mobile 5G network, AI, cloud-edge computer systems, and high-definition 3D cameras to create a proactive safety net as part of its Vision Zero road-safety plan, which aims to eliminate traffic deaths and serious-injury collisions on city streets by 2030. If a pedestrian is struggling to make it across an intersection before the light changes, the network will alert the signal operation. Drivers will be told through their phone or onboard system about the pedestrian, well before they are in their line of sight. 

Consider Infosys and its state-of-the-art digital platform, which was conceptualized to reimagine the game of tennis. Fans have used the virtual reality technology to put themselves in the center of the Rod Laver Arena during the Australian Open, so they can experience the spin and speed of the forehand shots of top players. Thousands of coaches and players have used the technology to analyze every game against every opponent, so they can approach the next match smarter and better prepared.  T-Mobile's 11 -year partnership with Infosys, which provides numerous technology solutions, will make similar use cases applicable to other industries and continue revolutionizing the way businesses operate. 

"The intelligence aspects of 5G are really fascinating," said Will Townsend, vice president and principal analyst, Moor Insights & Strategy. "When you take 5G and enable it with edge computing, you can do some really powerful things, by putting computational power close to the data creation."

The intelligence that 5G provides allows companies and consumers to get ahead of developing issues. For example, sensor-enabled IoT devices can monitor equipment in a factory and generate real-time data via the 5G network, predicting when the equipment will need maintenance to prevent costly downtime.

Leveraging 5G, companies will be able to create a "digital twin" of their supply chain, using this digital representation to simulate different scenarios to determine the most efficient operations.

5G is poised to revolutionize the way we live and work and play, perhaps in ways that we cannot yet envision. And it will do that by leveraging technology advances to make everyone — and everything — smarter.

Find out more about how T-Mobile's 5G technology is powering change across industries.

This post was created by Insider Studios with T-Mobile.

5G: Capable device required; coverage not available in some areas. Some uses may require certain plan or feature; see T-Mobile.com.​