What could drive 5G adoption faster

1.      Fancy 5G smartphones. As crazy as it may sound this will be the main reason that will drive people to upgrade their existing 4G phone to newer 5G models. Even if this comes with a higher monthly subscription, a 2 year carrier contract extension and a new 5G sim card (subsidize needed from carrier for the smartphone). Risk here is that people will buy the very same fancy phone from www.xxx.com, unlocked and use it with a 4G sim card. And so 5G plans might not come reality if they are not translated into real 5G traffic. 5G smartphones must not be heavy, bulky and expensive. What exactly would mean a fancy smartphone? No one really knows but we will find out when population will let us know which will be the no.1 sold 5G smartphone. Either way it must have many more features than just having the 5G stamp on it.

2.      5G VIP subscriptions: not only there should be no cap in minutes/sms/data/throttling but also such kind of subscriptions should act like VIP one. When such a user accesses a cell even in 4G he should be granted GBR resources even for http browsing. After all, how much does it cost to allow a 1Mbpsec in UL/DL GBR (with no limit for UL/DL MBR ) for such a user and then release it after 3-5 seconds of inactivity to allow regular users with non-GBR to use resources? This is what VIP means: special QoS treatment. There will be plenty of capacity in both 4G and 5G after launch of 5G so let it be. This VIP status will stimulate all users to move to 5G plans.

3.      Smart enablers by operator: first 3 months free of charge (for existing 4G users) then 2 years contract applies for 5G subscription.

4.      Not more than 10-20% extra fee for 5G plans compared to current 4G unlimited plans. MNO’s greed may slow down 5G adoption.

5.      Extensive 5G coverage from sub 6-Ghz bands at least in major cities in indoor environment. Majority of population does not have wifi at work so everyone is using their smartphone. MNO may not carry much traffic compared to wifi but it carries very important personal traffic 7AM to 5PM like short emails, sms, OTT short chats etc. It’s not for the sake of 5G traffic but rather for the sake of 5G icon on top of the screen. It makes a huge impression on customers to know that they are under 5G coverage as much as possible. Even if most of them would not see a major difference with 5G compared to 4G.