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Can’t wait to put 2020 behind you? The telecom industry feels your pain. But as the novel coronavirus wreaked havoc worldwide, technology stepped up. For insight into what changed in 2020 - and what to expect in 2021, we turned to industry consultant Monica Paolini of Senza Fili, and to Nokia’s head trend spotter Leslie Shannon.

5G will bring download speeds up to 100x faster than 4G. That speed boost will force content creators to evolve. Stewart @Brittlestar Reynolds, aka The Internet’s Favourite Dad* (*unproven) says the biggest impact will be in how quickly content must be created.

5G requires additional CAPEX investments, and it’s arriving at a time when telecom companies are feeling the pinch. But to Salesforce’s Steve Mannel, the real ROI for 5G won’t come from consumers -- it will come from building an enterprise ecosystem.

The FANGS are out and telecom companies don’t want to get bitten. But as giants like Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google build their next generation services on 5G, how does a telecom company go from “dumb pipe” to “smart collaborator?” Stephen Rose of Bell Labs says the industry has to sharpen its teeth.    Embedding telecoms into post-pandemic healthcare: https://ftr.bz/telehealth/pod  Making 5G voice pay: https://ftr.bz/5Gvoice/pod

Every time someone picks up a 5G smartphone, a superhero springs into action. For Nokia’s Jitin Bhandari, it’s not the ‘faster than a speeding bullet’ radio access network. And it’s not the transport’s ability to leap tall silos in a single bound. It’s the mild mannered 5G core. But the man charged with helping communications service providers build-out the next generation network is a super hero himself, if not to his clients, at least to his kid. Making 5G voice pay: https://ftr.bz/5Gvoice/pod

Like the rest of the world, Latin America is adopting 5G. It’s roll-out may not be as fast as we’ve seen in Asia and Europe, but Omdia’s Wally Swain tells Michael Hainsworth, it’s accelerating the region’s evolution to Industry 4.0.     

Hacker and Varonis’ Field CTO Brian Vecci spent his life breaking into computers. With the roll-out of 5G, the number of break-in opportunities is set to soar. And if you think the biggest security risk is the Post-It Note password, you’d be wrong.   Privacy challenges and security solutions for 5G networks: https://ftr.bz/privacychallenges/pod  With flexibility comes complexity: https://ftr.bz/podcast7/pod

COVID-19 is accelerating the adoption of technologies that would otherwise have taken years to go mainstream. But how are companies evolving in this “low touch” future? Nick De Mey, who sits on the Board of Innovation, says it takes more than just a QR Code or an app to succeed under the “new normal.”    Adoption of immersive technologies is speeding up, thanks to COVID-19: https://ftr.bz/immersivetech/pod  Will this pandemic be the catalyst for a hands-free technology revolution?: https://ftr.bz/handsfree/pod

Business as usual will have to take a back seat for some time. But how does the move to remote working and 5G present an opportunity for the telecommunications industry?  EY’s Global Leader for Technology, Media, and Telecommunications, Greg Cudahy, tells Michael Hainsworth the future isn’t predictable, but it will be brighter.

COVID-19 has put mobile and broadband providers under tremendous pressure. Telcos have seen their annual bandwidth demand forecasts reached within the first month of lockdown. But to Florian Groene, a partner at PWC in New York, and business strategist Hans Geerdes from Nokia Software HQ in San Jose, the new normal offers opportunities for telecom providers to reinvent their relationships with their customers.   Here’s what businesses actually want from CSPs and 5G: https://ftr.bz/enterprise5G/pod  Will this pandemic be the catalyst for a hands-free technology revolution? https://ftr.bz/handsfree/pod

As COVID-19 turned a local epidemic into a pandemic, the spotlight was trained on an industry known as a “dumb pipe”. But the global telecommunications industry proved quite smart thanks to its evolution towards 5G.  Nokia President & CEO Rajeev Suri says the lessons learned from the continued roll-out of the next generation wireless technology under the coronavirus will help prevent future global pandemics from turning into global recessions.   Adoption of immersive technologies is speeding up thanks to COVID-19: https://ftr.bz/immersivetech/pod  COVID-19 is changing communications forever: https://ftr.bz/changingcomms/pod

We’re turning to video games for both work meetings and staying in touch with family and friends, but after COVID-19, will any of it stick?  Nokia’s trend scouter, Leslie Shannon explains why she thinks the unexpected ways we’re using technology under quarantine signals a substantial shift in society.   Is this the last year in which reality is only physical? https://ftr.bz/AR2019/pod  What innovations will emerge post-pandemic? https://ftr.bz/COVID19innovations/pod

Why is one of the world’s top gaming peripheral companies turning to the edge cloud for its future? President Jason Schwartz believes cloud gaming will bring console games to areas of the world it has never been, but with adoption as the metric for streaming success, the spotlight is on 5G to help make that happen.   5G and edge cloud will transform the world of gaming: https://ftr.bz/5Ggaming/pod  Quarantine doesn't mean isolation for gamers: https://ftr.bz/onlinegaming/pod 

You’re not the only one working from home. The roll-out of the next big thing in wireless isn’t being stalled by COVID-19.  Mirjana Scheele is a former cell tower climber and the current VP of Deploy Services at Nokia, where network technologies first designed to cut costs and save the environment are now being leveraged to save ourselves, by enabling more remote work and maintenance.   Rethink networks, reinvent deployment: https://ftr.bz/nokia5Gdeploy

Testing is the domain of doctors, but tracing COVID-19 is falling on telecom and software companies as they race to develop systems for monitoring the quarantine. But at what cost? Internet rights advocate and CIGI fellow Michael Geist tells Futurithmic we are at risk of opening a Pandora’s box in an effort to protect our health, but that there are solutions.    China's social credit system raises questions, concerns and potential: https://ftr.bz/chinascs/pod  Mobile data is a powerful weapon in tracking and preventing pandemics: https://ftr.bz/mobiledata/pod

Even before COVID-19 drove up a year’s worth of bandwidth demand growth in less than a month, network operators have seen a 50% annual increase in demand. 5G is expected to tax capacity even more. Nokia fiber optics wizard Steve Vogelsang discusses the challenges — and the solutions as telecom companies prepare for the future of wireless.   A 5G wireless future begins with fiber https://ftr.bz/NBLfiber/pod  COVID-19: The network must go on https://ftr.bz/podcast21/pod

If 80% of wireless infrastructure is aimed at the roads, how are our mobile networks handling the COVID-19 crush of traffic at home? Enter the Wizards of Network Optimization, who don’t have to climb a pole to ensure your episode of Tiger King streams flawlessly on Netflix.  Host Michael Hainsworth speaks to Nokia’s Amit Mehrotra about the lessons he learned on the front lines of the coronavirus crisis as it was growing.   COVID-19 Dashboard: https://ftr.bz/COVID19/pod

COVID-19 has created a massive spike in global internet traffic. Telecoms which prepared for a 50% increase year over year are seeing that growth in just the last month. How will this critical infrastructure cope? Nokia’s Rafael De Fermín has answers.

Your phone company consistently ranks at the bottom of consumer satisfaction lists. But how do you satisfy Gen-Z in the 5G era? The CEO of JUV Consulting @ziadtheactivist has a unique understanding of this environmentally aware demographic born and raised in the age of the smartphone because he’s part of it.   Effectively marketing to Gen Z will take more than a flashy ad on Instagram: https://ftr.bz/GenZmarketing/pod  Why marketing 5G to consumers is a hard sell: https://ftr.bz/toughcall/pod

The future of online gaming is 5G, and a high-profile stumble by competitor Google doesn’t concern the company behind Angry Birds. Rovio’s Hatch Entertainment thinks it’s got the secret to success, and VP Nick Thomas says telecom companies will be looking to developers to leverage the technology.   5G and edge cloud will transform the world of gaming: https://ftr.bz/5Ggaming/pod Cloud gaming: From 4G to 5G: https://ftr.bz/cloudgaming/pod