LIVE FROM GSMA MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS SHANGHAI: Eric Xu, rotating CEO at Chinese vendor Huawei, played down growing hype that IoT will be central to the future success of 5G, suggesting that virtual reality (VR) could yet emerge as the technology’s key driver.

Speaking at the GTI Summit, Xu (pictured) said he didn’t think “IoT alone is quite enough to justify 5G”, and questions remained around what applications will truly push operators to invest in 5G, and equally, what will drive consumers to switch from 4G to 5G networks.

Eric XuXu (pictured, left) added that a recent visit to Silicon Valley, where he met with internet giants like Facebook and Google, prompted further thought around VR, and gave him renewed confidence in the 5G potential.

“Everyone was demonstrating VR in San Francisco, and it clearly is the buzzword right now,” he said. “Companies are indeed building their positions around it and they see it as the future. Mobile VR could be the driving application for 5G.”

Future car tech
And when it comes to autonomous and connected cars, touted to form a large segment of the wider IoT phenomena, Xu also had some reservations.

“I recently held a long debate in Korea about whether autonomous driving will actually become a reality,” he said. “People have been driving for a long time, and it will be a psychological challenge to convince them to concede control.”

He said 5G, ultimately, should be designed to support people first, and if it doesn’t, “there is no way for the ecosystem to be deployed and grow”.

“It is not realistic for 5G to only support IoT and vertical industries. Two prominent needs for 5G will be huge bandwidth, as well as low latency.”