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Next-gen mobile tech is response to consumer demand, rather than need.
Orange’s director of network strategy on Tuesday said the industry has "no clue" what 5G is, but said this doesn’t matter because consumers will always want something more and something better.
Speaking on a panel at Total Telecom Congress in London, Yves Bellégo said 5G is about addressing customer demand rather than need.
"Do we do things just because there is a problem to solve?" he asked. “Everyone wants 5G; do they need it? That is not the question. What will 5G be? I don’t have a clue but that is not a problem.
"So why do we do 5G? Because our customers want it. Why? Because it is just better."
Bellégo went on to identify 5G as the technology which will make connectivity available to everyone, no matter where they are in the world. Its potential as a substitute for fixed networks, fibre in particular, is limited though.
"We expect 5G to be the technology to bring access to people in countries where there is no Internet so there is a case for 5G to be the technology of access for many people," he explained. "When it comes to Western Europe, FTTH is being deployed and we have millions of customers and even more households connected but we will not have 100% of houses connected in the coming years and this is where 5G comes in."
Bellégo was joined on the panel by Matteo Gatta, technology strategy and innovation director at Belgium’s Proximus, and Franz Seiser, head of core network development at Deutsche Telekom, both of whom shared Bellégo’s vagueness about exactly what 5G is.
"What is 5G? The fact we are still discussing this says a lot,” said Seiser. "What are the implications of something that you don’t know what it is, is therefore difficult. 5G is hopefully a technology that solves the communication needs of decades to come, whatever they look like. Is 5G just more speed and less latency? No. Yes, that needs to be there but it cannot just be that. 5G is about flexibility and the ability to solve differentiating communication needs much faster than we can do today."
