By 2025, one in 10 mobile data connections in the country will be through 5G as local telco companies pioneer the tech deployment in Southeast Asia, according to the latest Mobile Economy report of GSMA Intelligence. The country just follows South Korea and Australia in 5G availability in local markets this year, pulling ahead of more developed countries like Singapore and Japan.
This unique position in 5G deployment makes the fourth Internet of Things (IoT) summit in the Philippines, slated to be staged from September 18 to 19 at the SMX Convention Center in SM Aura, Taguig, all the more exciting, as the technology opens up a wide array of opportunities for the industry.
“We would just like to get ready and educate all the sectors involved as we get ready for 5G transition”, said Elaine Cedillo, the Project head and Founder of IoT Summit Philippines, one of the organizations hosting the event. “We invited more than 12 conference speakers who are industry experts to be able to present global trends and actual use cases.”
The last Internet of Things Summit in the Philippines was attended by more than 3,000 participants. Photo from Internet of Things Summit.
The two-day conference, which will be co-hosted by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), will feature some of the most prominent and established names in the telecommunication industry, which includes Nokia’s Dr. Athul Prasad, China Mobile’s Chief Scientist, Dr. Chih-Lin I and Singapore-based Sixscape co-founder Lawrence Hughes to name a few.
Following its theme “Converge, Digitize and Connect”, the event will mainly focus on the imminent adoption of Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) and 5G-based technologies over the current IPv4 and 4G-based devices of various industries and the challenges and opportunities the transition will pose to businesses. At present, the majority of mobile data connections in the Philippines are still through 3G, as 4G penetration remains at a measly 20 percent despite its wide-scale deployment four years ago. The rest of the population is still connecting through 2G.
The event organizers believe mass availability of 5G can help usher in a more user-friendly, cost-efficient, and “service-ready” technologies like cloud computing and IoT services.
This will be the first IoT Summit Philippines that focuses on 5G as the main technology up for discussion as it has previously featured the impact of artificial intelligence, blockchain, machine learning, and data privacy to businesses. The summit attracted more than 3,000 attendees last year, as the summit featured 35 exhibitors and 20 speakers.