Exploring Unique 5G Use Cases: From Mines to Construction Sites

This has been lingering in my mind all weekend.     Axios covered the introduction of 5G private networks.    Quoting the article:

The private networks are popping up not just in places where they were long expected, such as schools and hospitals, but also at sports events, festivals, construction sites, and mines — anywhere businesses are trying to wow their customers or speed up operations.

And

Customers who only need temporary or small networks can opt for virtual 5G networks that rely heavily on software.That can means huge companies like Amazon end up serving the smallest companies, while telcos seeking to pay for massive investments in spectrum license chase the biggest customers.

Construction projects have proved a lucrative market, even in dense urban areas with plenty of broadband. Private 5G can be cheaper and quicker than digging up roads for new cables, or dealing with historic building preservation rules.

And

Verizon executive vice president Craig Silliman told Axios that private 5G use cases range from mining companies in isolated areas to heavily regulated banks to military facilities like Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam, where Ericsson and Verizon are partnering to improve the base’s aircraft maintenance.An AWS product called Snowcone has combined use of drones with a mobile 5G network in a van to help with typhoons in the Philippines and landslides in Brazil.

When the 5G hype hit, we were promised remote surgeries and movies delivered instantly to any device.   That utopian future never arrived… yet there are specific instances where private implementations make business sense.  That’s what stuck with me – the less glamorous yet distinctly valuable cases where a private implementation is a great project.    That’s interesting to me and should be to providers who may not have considered this.    Note the markets – construction, mines, banking, and military.   Often the less glamorous, the more the opportunity.