I found the narrative from this week’s OER quite powerful and an interesting way to present facts and information. This narrative made me wonder how 5G could affect the everyday life of a student in a developing country. What benefits would 5G bring to a student from a modest socioeconomic background? I was lucky to discover a blog from Cisco that illustrates a possible school day in the life of such a student in the near future. You can access this blog here.
Empowering Learning – Anywhere, Anytime – with 5G
5 responses to “Empowering Learning – Anywhere, Anytime – with 5G”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
5G certainly is a very exciting field. Even in first world countries, many times I find internet lag to be a huge demotivator in my learning process. If videos, or websites can be seamlessly accessed through my mobile device without trouble, it certainly would make learning more possible everywhere. If anything, I think it would remove a demotivating factor. The only thing I am unsure about is how quickly developing countries would be able to have 5G access, and if their mobile devices would be able to run 5G service. If they have to upgrade their device in order to enjoy 5G service, it certainly would be a big draw back, and may take more years before people in developing countries can enjoy the benefit that it brings.
I wonder about politics and exploitation — big tech seems to be leading the charge on 5G, which potentially increases even more the influence and reach of these corporations…
Hi Lyon,
I looked up the main 5G companies. I was surprised to find only a few of them in this industry. The small number of big players allows these companies to dominate local and international markets. Here they are:
Samsung Electronics (South Korea)
Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. (China)
ZTE Corporation (China)
Nokia Networks (Finland)
NEC Corporation (Japan)
Ericsson (Sweden)
Qualcomm (US)
Verizon (US)
Orange (France)
Mobile TeleSystems (Russia)
AT&T (US)
Cisco Systems (US)
As for politics, it’s hard to say what’s really happening there. I know that there has been ongoing tension between Huawei and the US government and recently, the British government banned Huawei from its 5G network. While the U.S. clashes with Chinese tech company Huawei—a key player in the rollout of 5, one Swedish company is positioning itself to thrive. Amid this chaos, Ericsson has been building 5G contracts across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia while staying under the radar during ongoing disputes between the Trump administration and Beijing. I think all the tension and chaos between the two superpowers might actually give the chance to the other 5G companies to win over valuable market share and earn a solid reputation.
Hi Pascaline, thank you for the post and link to the blog. The authors certainly paint a pretty picture of the possibilities here but I’m sure we are both aware that a lot has to fall in place first before stable 5G networks will be established in developing countries. I’m curious to hear your thoughts on what time-frame you think will be needed before such countries can benefit from all that 5G proposes to offer? Do you think the wait will lead to students from such countries falling even further behind their first world counterparts? There is an argument by some that the lag in 5G deployment in Africa for example could mean that they would utilize 5G technologies that have already been tested and matured thereby offering more advantages than what would be possible if they invested in the technology now.
Hi Carla,
Those are really good questions. Let’s see if I can do them justice.
Question 1:I’m curious to hear your thoughts on what time-frame you think will be needed before such countries can benefit from all that 5G proposes to offer?
According to an article I read, some countries in Latin America such as Brazil and Mexico are preparing to launch 5G and the deployment will only grow in the next few years.However there are likely to be fewer than 100 million 5G connections by 2025 and most people will still rely on 3G and 4G.
As for Africa, I doubt we will have 5G coverage anytime soon. At best by 2025, some African countries e.g South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and possibly Mauritius might have 5G only in urban areas. I don’t really see big deployments over the next couple of years because there is still a lot to do on network coverage. There are countries where coverage is not 100% and operators will need to invest in their existing 3G and 4G networks before 5G can be considered.
Question 2: Do you think the wait will lead to students from such countries falling even further behind their first world counterparts?
It’s a hard to say. Having 5G at school will definitely give students from developing countries access to greater selection of educational resources. Technology could be implemented at school to help them understand their lesson better and also learn new skills. The biggest advantage of 5G in education is VR and AR. Now does that mean that this type of technology will be available to disadvantaged students? Do we see students in Africa having access to that kind of gadgets at school when they barely have a meal everyday? To be honest, I fear that 5G will only widen the gap between the poor and the rich. Those who are affluent will reap the benefits irrespective of their geographical location. On top of that, success in education doesn’t rest solely on access to technology. There are so many contributing factors to a person’s academic success or failure.