Embracing mobile internet in the 5G era

Ou (front row, second from right) with the participants

As technical progress accelerates to a thousand-fold, the world is now on the threshold of a new era. People all over the world will soon witness the transition of cellular networks to the new fifth-generation, known as 5G, and many countries are indeed making a definitive push towards 5G.  Malaysia is no exception. To delve further into the impact of 5G, UTAR Centre for Extension Education (CEE), in collaboration with  Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science (LKC FES) Department of Internet Engineering and Computer Science, organised a talk at Sungai Long Campus on 18 April 2019. 

Ou delivering his talk

The invited speaker was Ou Xiao Hong, the founder of JI DA SHI （深圳市机大师科技有限公司）who has 20 years of working experience in the cell phone industry. In his talk, he first provided an overview of the evolution of mobile communication generations by differentiating the features of each generation, and explained the improvements made from one generation to another.

According to him, the first generation (1G) was used for voice calls only; the second generation (2G) added the function of text messaging; the third generation (3G) mobile technology provided multimedia support; while the fourth generation (4G) was the evolution of 3G which has changed people’s behaviours and habits. Talking about the upcoming generation 5G, he said, “In the 5G era, all things are connected. It will impact every sector and change the world even more profoundly than the previous generations. It can be said that 4G changed individuals, but 5G will change society and reshape the world.”

He also explained the development of mobile internet and pointed out how artificial intelligence (AI) will be merged into real-life applications such as self-driving cars, robots, drones and other 5G-related technologies. He presented an interesting video relating to the future of mobile networks, visually describing how things in daily life could be connected and how industries could be transformed through digitalisation in the 5G era.

Besides, he also addressed the potential of 5G and the high capacity demand in the mobile device market. He talked about the aftermarket, mobile device parts and services, highlighting that the rapid growth of the smart-phone market has created a correspondingly thriving handset repair industry and secondary mobile device industry.

The talk then ended with a souvenir presentation from Master of Information Systems Programme Head Dr Wong Whee Yen to Ou, followed by a photography session.

There will also be a three-day master class for mobile phone service maintenance offered by CEE from 13 May 2018 to 15 May 2018 to people who are interested in starting a phone repair business or fixing own phone. 

During Q&A session

Dr Wong (left) presenting a token of appreciation to Ou