At Airties, we always look towards the needs of tomorrow while we build our solutions. One such area is the seamless convergence of advanced wireless technologies like 5G and Wi-Fi 6. Both technologies seem to be competing against each other, but by working together, they can significantly improve wireless networks to bring a great quality of experience to people.

We have already taken some important steps towards seamlessly and securely bridging the gap between cellular and Wi – Fi with Wireless Broadband Alliance OpenRoaming. Speaking about this endeavor in his keynote session, ‘The intersection of 5G and Home Connectivity’ at BizClik Media Groups’ TECH LONDON LIVE,  Nicolas Fortineau, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Airties, discussed the complementary co-existence of 5G and Wi-Fi 6 based on real-world experiences with many of the world’s leading broadband service providers.

Here are some key takeaways:

1. Enterprises around the world are already at the forefront of deploying both 5G and Wi-Fi 6 advanced networking needs such as Internet of Things, smart factories, connected vehicles, and more. The choice is not about using one over the other, but rather, selecting the right networking technology based on its use case scenario.
2. Even in a hypothetical situation where we imagined the world to rely exclusively on 5G, the fact remains that the global consumer Internet traffic is around 293 Exabytes per month. According to Cisco’s VNI Complete Forecast Highlights, more than half of the total internet traffic runs through fixed lines and Wi-Fi. It will be a massive effort and cost driver to have 5G infrastructure keep the entire bulk of internet traffic up and running.
3. The convergence of Wi-Fi 6 and 5G is an exciting phenomenon not only from a technology standpoint, but it also reflects the creation of an ecosystem where all the entities involved can benefit.​ The end users benefit from a great experience, across devices and networks, without any efforts from their side – a true solution of their key ask which is ‘I just want the internet to work’.​ Service providers, on the other hand, can take advantage of this convergence to rethink their existing business models and unlock new revenue streams, grow their customer base, find new opportunities to cross sell and upsell and ensure a great relationship with their customers. ​