Disclosure: Hans Vestberg is CEO of Yahoo Finance’s parent company, Verizon.
Verizon is making 5G a priority this year, but it’s more than just faster internet — the new technology will be revolutionary, according to CEO Hans Vestberg.
“5G is so much more than downloading movies for a smartphone,” Vestberg told Yahoo Finance’s Dan Howley at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. “It’s so important for our customers [and] consumers to understand what real 5G is, because it’s a quantum leap from 4G.”
5G refers to the fifth-generation in wireless broadband service, where internet speeds are up to 20 times faster than existing LTE networks. Users can also connect many more devices to the network at once.
The technology is likely to have a wide range of uses, Vestberg emphasized. “5G is designed not only for consumers: It’s for industries, it’s for a society as well,” he said. Once implementation is complete, the company expects it to usher in what it terms a “Fourth Industrial Revolution.”
“It’s so much more — it’s going to be cordless manufacturing, it could be retail stores that capture real-time information in order to give you, as a customer, a much better experience when you’re in the store,” stressed Vestberg.
Verizon has so far deployed 5G Home in limited areas in Sacramento, Los Angeles, Houston, and Indianapolis. Its first 5G smartphone will be Motorola’s Moto Z3 and a Samsung phone, Vestberg confirmed with Yahoo Finance.
The company recently underwent restructuring in an attempt to lower costs, cutting around 10,400 employees through a voluntary buyout program. Vestberg had rearranged its business lines to take effect this year on January 1, putting 5G at the forefront.
Globally, the battle for 5G rages on with the U.S. and China fighting for dominance.
China holds a narrow lead over the U.S., thanks to a strong early push for 5G, combined with overall government support for the initiative. It has even put 5G on the national agenda.
At a company event in Shenzhen, Huawei Technologies’ chairman Eric Xu said he believed that “as we face the future, we know deep down that the birth of 5G standards represents a new beginning.”
Aarthi is a writer for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @aarthiswami.
Read more:
Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, LinkedIn, and reddit.
