“5G can enable and improve productivity a lot [for businesses]. For example, Siam Cement Group (SCG) in Thailand used a private 5G network to deploy autonomous electric trucks at its remote industrial locations. This has greatly improved efficiency, productivity [and employees’ safety in risky situations],” Abel Deng, president of the carrier business group for Asia Pacific at Huawei, shares at a media briefing on the side of Mobile World Congress 2023 on March 1.
Investments in ICT infrastructure, such as networks, is key to driving the digital economy forward. A 10% increase in mobile adoption, for example, can result in a GDP increase of 1%. 5G alone is expected to generate an additional global GDP value-add of US$960 billion (which translates to about 0.7% of global GDP), according to GSMA Intelligence.
This should not come as a surprise as the transformative technologies – including artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, cloud and edge computing – that the digital economy relies on requires high-speed, reliable network connectivity such as 5G and beyond.
