Five Ways Coronavirus will Adversely Affect Tech and Communication Industry

Coronavirus is the latest epidemic that has affected hundreds of thousands of people around the world. Not only it has endangered the lives of people around the world but it has had an adverse impact on the businesses as well. The initial outbreak of the Coronavirus impacted the global supply chain as china is the manufacturing giant that supplies the whole world with electronics and all sorts of necessary equipment.

WHO declared the condition as a pandemic when the virus left china and started affecting people in other countries. Over 2,00,000 confirmed cases across 118 countries have created a situation of panic all around the world. Here’s how Coronavirus is effecting people the tech and Communication world. 

Coronavirus Impact On Communications Universe

Humans are deeply interconnected with each other through the internet and telecommunication. What if you had to spend a day without the internet and calling the facility? However, you don’t have to worry about losing your internet and calling connectivity. Most of the system nowadays is automated so even if the world goes on lockdown you would still have some internet connectivity. 

Mobile World Connectivity (MWC) an annual conference in the telecommunication industry was canceled this year because of the Coronavirus pandemic. It is a part of containing Coronavirus. MWC was the first string in the list of canceled events. More and more employees all around the world are being asked to work from home or from remote locations to avoid spreading the Coronavirus. 

Telecommunications companies are trying their best to deliver their services as broadly as possible due to people working from home. Companies that deal in video communications (video calls and Video Conferencing) are trying to get their signals stronger as more people would use their service compared to normal days. 

Governments all over the globe are asking people to stay indoors and use telecommunications to help bridge the gap between employees and employers. Here’s how Coronavirus can affect the telecom industry in the upcoming year!

1. Major Disruption To Supply Chains

As the virus originated In China, the world’s supply chain was affected foremost. A large number of people were impacted in the region. This resulted in the closing of all the factories and manufacturing plans in the areas that have been severely impacted because of Coronavirus. For example, Telecom giant Apple experienced a sudden shortage on its iPhone supply as the company’s primary manufacturing unit in Foxconn, China was closed until an uncertain period because of Corona attack. 

Unfortunately, this means that Apple phones will face a significant drop in their iPhone shipments through Q1. Almost a 15% drop in the shipment is expected according to a source. All the companies have contingency plans that include increasing the speed of production in manufacturing plants that are still operating. The rapid growth of the COVID-19 is making it hard to analyze which region will be the next one that will be impacted. China has faced a major economical drop, and it will not be easy to recover from such a sudden drop! Millions of dollars are being invested in China’s “Made in China” initiative to advance the manufacturing capabilities of telecommunication equipment and semiconductors.

2. Canceled Conferences Have Made It Difficult For New Opportunities To Grow

The biggest telecommunications technological event of the world “Mobile World Congress” was canceled because of the Coronavirus outbreak. MWC is a stepping stone for technological advancement in the telecom world. Investors, Business Owners and Tech freaks all over the world come to this event to showcase their latest inventions, grow their network, and invest in groundbreaking technology. Several companies rescheduled the events they had been planning for months. But it seems the plans will have to be canceled entirely due to the continuing presence of the Coronavirus. 

Just like MWC, Facebook also canceled its F8 Developer Conference and Global Marketing summit. Google took full benefit of the technology and shifted its next Google Cloud even to an Online only event! IBM followed suit and live-streamed its Developer conference. These cancellations have cost a little over $1 billion in economic losses according to multiple financial reports.

3. Coronavirus Outbreak Could Fast Forward the Global 5G Program

5G’s incredible speeds, zero drops during a long-distance video conference, the Increased density that makes it the perfect solution to remote area internet communications and connectivity and increased possibilities make it the next most desired thing in the market. 5G connectivity is in the mind of many tech giants. Whichever makes 5G globally available will win the race. As a caution, most organizations have asked employees to work from home, which means they need for 5G connectivity is the need of the hour.

Two critical areas are critical for effective operations during the pandemic, and the availability of 5G can help greatly to all those stuck in their homes.

• Telehealth: The first area is fulfilling healthcare needs over the internet. With the help of technological advancements, physicians can diagnose, treat and operate on patients without being physically available. We saw a few examples of this during the Corona outbreak, few doctors with the help of ZTE and China Telecom designed a 5G powered system that allows physicians to treat patients to people living at remote locations through lightning-fast 5G speed video conferencing. Many hospitals in China are following this pattern to help people without being physically available. 

• Teleconferencing: All the organizations, be it large scale or small-term businesses have switched to enterprise conferencing tools such as Google Hangouts, Skype and Zoom as it is not possible to go to work physically amid the situation of crisis. This dependence on enterprise tools will ask for high-speed internet connectivity and what can be better than 5G internet when it comes to speed. 5G provides real-time and uninterrupted communication that is not possible with most wired connections today!

4. The Coronavirus Can Boost The Use of VR in Enterprise World

All the tech-based organizations like Apple, Google & Microsoft have asked the employees to stay at home and work from home! Amazon has asked the employees to cancel off any nonessential traveling to Coronavirus affected cities. But this work at home has caused a halt for on-the-job training. As this drawback is very difficult to manage, companies will move towards the use of VR. The use of VR will increase the technological advancement of Virtual reality. 

Companies already have been using VR for training purposes. The Coronavirus could be the reason for the growth of VR use in the enterprise universe.

5. Investment in Smart City Solutions will Grow

Cities around the world have utilized the use of smart city technology to handle the impact of Coronavirus. Police in China is using drones that have thermal sensors to identify people that are running with a high fever. The South Korean Government developed an app that allows self quarantined individuals with caseworkers which helps them in sharing their progresses and ask any question they might have! The Australian government also followed suit and developed a chatbot to help spread awareness about the virus and address citizens’ queries.

These situations are difficult to handle, and they all fall under the domain of smart cities. The purpose of smart cities is to make sure that the day-to-day operations of the city go without hampering. According to a study, the investment for smart cities will reach $295 billion in upcoming years. Telecommunication will play the biggest role in the employment of smart cities.

What Does the Telecommunication Departments Get In Store For Us?

Telecom is an ever-growing industry, and the advancement in the technological department is very much needed to deal with pretty much every emergency. Coronavirus Pandemic has affected the telecommunications world adversely. Causing over 3 billion dollars in losses and increasing every single second. Once the situation settles down, Coronavirus could be the very reason for the sudden boost and growth in the Telecom universe.