This archive report was first published on 17 July 2020.
July 17, 2020, marked a pivotal moment in the COVID-19 pandemic, with 4G networks playing a vital role in supporting communities worldwide.
Long Term Evolution (LTE), the technology behind 4G, has underpinned innovative digital initiatives aimed at mitigating the pandemic's impact.
Henry Calvert, head of the Network 2020 future network programme at the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSMA), emphasized the significance of LTE in the current landscape.
“Until 2025, LTE will continue to do the heavy lifting,” Calvert said. “Our 4G networks will remain key… They will continue to be important for the next five-to-seven years,” he added.
During the pandemic, LTE has been instrumental in providing telehealth and telemedicine services, expanding network services to hotspots, and supporting the data and connectivity needs of new lifestyles.
Calvert noted that data usage has increased by more than 70% per customer, driven by online services and consumption of on-demand video services like Netflix.
“There has even been a call to on-demand video providers to reduce the quality of video they’re deploying and encourage people to use standard-definition rather than high-definition TV to preserve the capacity in the networks for online education, online health and online businesses,” he said.
As the world transitions to a new paradigm, LTE will remain the priority infrastructure over the short term, while societies grapple with the pandemic.
GSMA intelligence groups predict a short-term dip in 5G deployment, but this will quickly recover to normal levels.
