AT&T Hosts Carousel of Diverse Industries and Advocates to Highlight Applications for 5G Solutions

WASHINGTON, February 11, 2020 – An AT&T-hosted forum on the wireless 5G standard on Tuesday presented a carousel of interests, each waxing eloquent on how the anticipated improvements with 5G would enhance their respective industries.

John Godfrey, senior vice president of public policy at Samsung, said that 5G would cause factories to go wireless, allowing humans and machines to more efficiently maneuver through a warehouse without tripping.

Shailesh Prakash, chief information officer at The Washington Post, expressed excitement of using lower 5G latency for newspaper articles to use better data and graphics “to truly educate you with an immersive experience.”

Prakash also compared the future of journalism to a scene from Homeland, where a “truckload of bad guys” used 5G-like technology to track a character. Without much irony, Prakash stated that he could foresee journalists using similar means to track the movements of senators to better understand decision-making on votes.

Karen Rheuban, M.D., professor of pediatrics at the University of Virginia Center for Telehealth, mentioned how there are a host of vitals monitoring devices on patients that are rendered inoperable in rural areas due to lack of connection.

Rheuban drew much attention to the disparity between urban and rural broadband infrastructure throughout the panel, championing the Connect2Care apprenticeship program as a promising way to tackle the “digital divide.”

Mo Katibeh, chief marketing officer at AT&T Business Marketing and the forum’s opening speaker, touted 5G’s ultra-low latency of sub-10 milliseconds, which is about “as fast as our minds process reality.”

He also highlighted a striking study by Deloitte. Each person currently has 2.5 connected devices, according to the company’s research. By 2029, they expect that number to hit 60-120 connected devices, Katibeh stated.

Specifically, Katibeh highlighted current deployments of 5G technology offered by AT&T. The company is working with the Ellison Institute to use AI to detect cancers at a rate more accurate than that of human doctors. He also played footage of “the first 5G stadium,” the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium. This impressive integration of tech allows fans to stand next to large fixed tablets and use AR to “huddle” with their favorite Cowboys players and record video.

In response to a question, Katibeh was asked about how he perceived the threat of Dish 5G in light of a judge’s approval of the Sprint merger with T-Mobile this morning. He had nothing to say about the news of the merger, but touted AT&T’s capacity in working to be the best 5G provider in the nation.