EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: AT&T’s Ralph de la Vega expects low latency on 5G networks to be a key factor for operators looking to support Internet of Things applications.

Last month, AT&T followed its main rival Verizon in declaring its intentions to start work on the development of 5G, with field trials planned for summer this year. The operator had, until then, been surprisingly subdued on its 5G strategy.

de la Vega, who serves as president and CEO, AT&T Business Solutions, noted that while the consumer benefits of a 5G world, including faster speeds and bigger storage, continue to attract the headlines, the low latency element of 5G “presents a huge upside” for operators in connecting machines to the internet.

“In the Internet of Things, there will be many communications that are not only established from smartphones and tablets, but also from things that require a lot of starts and stops,” he said.

“Autonomous cars, for example, are going to be big, but a lot of decisions that a car, or a machine has to make, are real time based. When a car has to turn it has to do it instantly, and having the network capability that allows that to happen will make this much safer in the future.”

Speaking to Mobile World Live, De La Vega also reiterated AT&T’s commitment to providing end-to-end solutions that “help businesses transform”, as he opened up on why providing security solutions at the network level is becoming ever more important.

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