More than any other feature, the blazing speed and low latency of 5G are getting the most attention. While gamers and people binge watching their favorite TV show will appreciate these features, industries with more serious applications are awaiting 5G technology just as eagerly. Healthcare is one of those industries, and the demonstration Nokia (News - Alert) and China Mobile Communications Corporation (CMCC) showed at the 2017 Mobile World Congress (MWC17) in Shanghai will transform telehealth services and emergency hospital patient care, while providing the infrastructure for developers to create innovative solutions in the field.
China Mobile (News - Alert) has the largest network and customer base in the world, with more than 2,600,000 base installations and around 820 million subscribers. If there is any one company in need of 5G technology more than any other, it is China Mobile. For the vast majority of the Chinese population, their computing and Internet access is being delivered through their smartphones, making the services 5G will be able to deliver that much more important.
So the demonstration the company made with Nokia for telehealth and other health related applications can't be understated, because it is going to play an increasingly important role in how healthcare is delivered, not only in China but throughout the world.
The demonstration will use the Nokia 5G FIRST platform along with the Next Generation Core to mimic communications between ambulance and hospital staff as an emergency patient is being transported. Using 5G network slicing, the ambulance and the hospital are going to be able to transmit high-bandwidth images, including patient x-rays and video in real-time.
With this information, doctors at the hospital can begin the diagnostic process and make preparations before the patient gets there. For patients with major trauma or critical care, each added second increases their chances of being able to overcome their predicament.
“We are very pleased to cooperate with China Mobile and use 5G to demonstrate a highly efficient and effective Telehealth solution. As a leading developer of 5G, we continue to engage with customers on research and development, best practices and the uses of 5G to prepare for future introduction of the technology. We'll continue to fulfill our mission by making people's life easier as we create the technologies that connect the world,” said Yu Xiaohan, head of Nokia Network China's Customer Business Team for China Mobile.
According to Nokia, 5G FIRST will allow China Mobile to evolve its networks to 5G with end-to-end design and deployment support for 5G use cases across many different industries based on reference architecture and solution blueprints.
The 5G FIRST platform makes it possible for operators to manage almost an infinite capacity demand of new applications seamlessly and securely, anywhere. It builds on commercial 5G Nokia AirScale and AirFrame platforms with acceleration services, which help operators deploy 5G quickly and smoothly and introduce next generation communications services to market faster.
