Shortly or perhaps after a year, the cell phone connection will be so fast that downloading a movie will take just a few seconds and a television show for just an instant. That's a far cry from the ten minutes it would take now to download a move.
That is the vision for the future of Randall L. Stephenson, AT&T's chief executive, once the company's offer to buy Time Warner for $85.4B is approved by regulators. There will be no need for any cable connection since one can watch TV using a cell phone.
Stephenson is banking on the new generation 5G technology which is predicted to carry superfast speeds and compete with regular television services. He expects this latest technology to compete with cable providers by 2021.
Technology buffs seem to disagree with Stephenson's expectations even calling it a mirage since it would take some time before this latest technology can be used.
Admittedly, 5G can offer speeds up to 100 times faster than what is available today, but the 5G is still a bone of contention between the telephone equipment maker and data carriers about its functionality.
According to Bengt Nordstrom co-founder, of Northstream, a telecom consulting firm, such a controversy will take years to resolve, and he expects no resolution until 2020. After determining how the technology will function the companies will have to face the prohibitive cost of installing networks capable of handling ultra-high speeds.
They take a tremendous amount of money to build," says telecom specialist Craig Moffett, "The obvious question for AT&T is, where is the money going to come from to build out 5G networks on a large scale?" he added
With AT&T's impending merger with Time Warner, the company executives have stressed that such merger will allow the resulting company to bring together the required components of the new technology and the financing it requires.
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