5G: Mobile industry tries to convince the world about the data future

Just about everything is about to be disrupted and sped up, according to the new data technology's proponents

A 5G sign is displayed at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona on February 27, 2019 (Josep LAGO / AFP)JOSEP LAGO/AFP/Getty Images)

The future is fast, according to the experts. But it feels like it is arriving a little slowly.

Phone and network experts have spent the week trying to make the world excited about 5G and the possibilities it offers for data connections – though when the promised 10 times faster speed will arrive, and how, is a little more complicated than they would like to make it sound.

The Mobile World Congress is the annual event where the phone and carrier industry gather together in a huge Barcelona conference centre and talk about the future. And everything they had to say about that future sounded mostly the same: 5G, the new data connections that are about to disrupt just about every industry, according to its proponents.

In the halls of MWC, there were 5G demonstrations that seemed like something out of (dull) sci-fi. There was a 5G ambulance, demonstrating how instant connections will change healthcare; 5G robots that showed how they will be able controlled from the cloud; cars that were powered by 5G data connections that allowed them to be driven remotely; a 5G concert where a hologram, relayed through a 5G data connection, played live alongside a real person.

The promise of 5G is simple: it will allow data connections that are much faster than current ones, using a host of new technology and hardware. Those data connections will be so fast they could be practically instantaneous, allowing for people to virtually be in other places without any lag at all, for example.

In practise, it is far more complicated. The introduction of the technology has been upset by the continuous promises of carriers, security concerns, and the sheer cost of adding the new hardware and other changes that will be required.

Some of that hardware was also shown off at MWC, in the form of phones that are built to take advantage of the faster speeds. But for all the handsets shown off – just about every major smartphone maker had one – they are all actually useless, since the phones have no network to connect to.

The small trouble, of course, is that 5G isn't actually here yet, and is not turning up anytime soon. It isn't expected to start rolling out until later this year, and that process is likely to take some time – even if it keeps to the probably optimistic timetable that has been proposed.

That could be slowed down considerably if the ongoing standoff over technology company Huawei between the US and China – and just about every country in the world as collateral – is not resolved.

Many countries are relying on Huawei to make the networking equipment that will power future 5G networks, and link up phones and other internet devices to their super-fast connections.

But if they end up being banned, and the current equipment dismantled, as has been suggested, that could have a significant impact on the rollout. Few companies are able to offer such technology at the same quality and relatively low price, potentially disrupting the entire plan.

At MWC, Huawei was present just about everywhere. It had numerous stands, and also revealed technology products of its own, including a new foldable phone and handsets that will be able to connect to 5G networks.

The company joked about the concerns that have been voiced by governments including the US. "PRISM, PRISM, on the wall, who is the most trustworthy of them all?" said Guo Ping, Huawei's chairman, joking about one of the secret data collection programmes that were revealed by Edward Snowden.