If you look for events that will kick an industry into high-gear for growth, look no further than the wireless industry, which is primed with 5G, AI, IoT and other new areas. This is important to understand whether you are in management, a worker, investor, partner or regulator. This will not only transform the wireless industry, but also every other industry as well.
The change 5G will bring to the wireless industry will be immediate and ongoing. Just like the shift to 4G was. As this industry has grown and matured over the last 40 years, things were always pretty much focused on the industry itself, getting faster and better.
However, what’s coming will also be very different. It will change everything in other industries. It will usher in and unleash incredible waves of innovation, transformation and growth in industry-after-industry.
MWC19 showed how 5G, AI and IoT will transform everything
After seeing the innovation waves of 5G, AI, IoT and the cloud at MWC19, it is becoming very clear, wireless will impact every company in every industry. It’s not just a wireless-only story any longer. The change will be on a scale we have never seen before. It will be massive.
We should expect to see rapid change all around us. Here’s one example about how cable TV is going wireless. We all know cable television and the larger pay TV field which uses TV over the Internet or IPTV.
Leaders in this area are companies and services like AT&T DirecTV, AT&T DirecTV NOW, Comcast Xfinity, Charter Spectrum, Altice, Cox and more.
In fact, as part of this transformation, traditional cable TV companies are also starting to offer wireless services under the names Xfinity Mobile and Spectrum Mobile. Altice Mobile will join them later this year.
Pay TV and cable TV are going wireless with 5G
Next, expect pay TV to go wireless. So, what changes can we expect going forward? Pay TV has seen an incredible wave of transformation and growth over the last decade? That change-wave will continue. In fact, AT&T is already offering wireless pay TV using 4G.
It started with AT&T offering Uverse and Verizon offering FiOS. Then they also acquired DirecTV. They expanded that to offer DirecTV NOW and the first generation of wireless pay TV.
The pay TV space has changed dramatically over the last decade. 5G will continue this wave of change by creating and introducing the first 5G wireless pay TV services.
5G wireless pay TV will have enough power, speed and immediacy to let competitors offer TV service over wireless networks to homes and offices, competing with traditional cable TV.
This is a signal to me that the entire pay TV industry is starting its next wave of transformation. This will challenge the traditional cable TV model. In fact, that’s the reason I think the cable TV industry has been changing.
If you think about it, the primary service offered by traditional cable TV companies like Comcast, Charter, Altice and Cox is no longer TV. It is now, Internet.
First 5G wireless pay TV expected from AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile
I expect the industry leaders of today will see 5G as both a threat and an opportunity. A threat, because new technology invites new competitors to threaten traditional market share. An opportunity, because this is an exciting new world that customers will love.
Companies which embrace new market opportunities will be the winners. Those who don’t, will lose. It’s really just as simple as that.
I am not saying entire industries are at risk of losing. Rather, companies within each industry have a decision to make. Will they ride the change-wave or not? That will be the difference.
My expectation is simple. Some competitors today will make the leap into this new world of growth. However, I also expect other providers to wait. Still others will not do it at all.
The reason some will wait is they don’t want to give up one in the hand for two in the bush. They will be trying to time something that can’t be timed.
The problem is, you can’t stop a changing industry. The change-wave continually moves along and changes everything. Companies who ride the change-wave, have the best chance of continued growth. Those who don’t, ultimately get left behind.
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