We’re even still seeing a few new twists on the kind of advanced 5G applications that many expected to become commonplace by now. Verizon, for example, in conjunction with Bell Canada, Vodaphone, MATSUKO, and the 5G Future Forum demonstrated what they called the world’s first “transatlantic real-time 5G holographic meeting” where virtual avatars came together over a worldwide 5G network.
As a result of all this, it’s also becoming clear that many of the cool 5G applications that the combination of new networks along with the overhauled network architectures were supposed to enable are taking much longer than most anyone expected. The net result is a sense of stasis that makes it seem like not much is happening in the 5G world.
Along the way, many companies are also recognizing that in carrier environments where you need to maintain extremely high levels of reliability, the idea of trying to put together solutions from a range of specialized vendors may not be the best or most practical way to go. To put it another way, carriers are starting to shift from one set of large companies to another one with software solutions coming from these and other big companies as well.