How 5G Will Change Content and Content Consumption

With content on the rise, the only guarantee that 5G gives is that content will evolve and be consumed more

- RAUNUQ BENJAMIN

India has just finished its 5G bidding process which saw a newcomer Adani Data Networks enter the mobile network provider spectrum alongside Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone Idea who together put a sum of $19 billion down for the service launches for the network(s) starting in October this year. But what does 5G do in terms of streaming and broadcasting for the media and entertainment market? In simple terms it will change the whole landscape of broadcasting and streaming.

For starters, 5G is a big upgrade on 4G and 4G LTE, think of it this way 5G is a Ferrari or a Lamborghini, essentially very fast it makes 4G and 4G LTE look like the base BMW sedan. This is not like 4G (being a BMW sedan) which made 3G look like a Toyota Camry. With 5G networks, the transmission speeds will not allow for buffering on your favourite OTT networks when you stream in 720p or 1080p also called HD, it will offer seamless streaming thanks to its 4K UHD stream abilities. This is due to the promised bandwidth of over 1Gbit/s which in turn will reduce the latency, provide required the speed for UHD, and make the streaming experience more immersive on every device connected to the network.

However, 5G is more than just an upgrade, as Mr. Dinesh Singh, Chief Technology officer at NDTV Limited explains "Along with upgrade it would be major benefit for broadcast industry. If Telcom operators able to provide the coverage of network which is still a challenge in 4G also, this would be a game changer for broadcaster. Overall ecosystem of broadcast LIVE operation would change & broadcaster would able to explore more on LIVE technology with available compression codec & streaming protocols."