(Yicai Global) Dec. 20 -- The mobile operators preparing for commercial use of 5G are calculating the future market prospects. The commercial value to be generated by 5G in China will reach as much as USD158.9 billion by 2026, said Zhang Zhiwei, head of marketing at Ericsson Ltd.'s Northeast Asia unit, yesterday.

The commercial potential of sectors to be tapped by 5G in China by 2026 will reach tens of billions of dollars and include wide-ranging areas such as energy and industry, manufacturing, public security, medicine, public transit, media entertainment, automobile, financial service, retailing and agriculture, Ericsson estimates. Ericsson demonstrated multiple 5G application scenario cases at its research and development (R&D) center in Shanghai yesterday, reported online media outlet the Paper, part of the state-owned Shanghai United Media Group.

China will lead the world in 5G deployment, and the pace of commercial application of 5G will speed up, said Zhang. "Some 5G commercial products will be introduced in the second half of 2018; all operators will carry out trial application of 5G in 2019, and 5G will be put into large-scale commercial use by 2020," Zhang added.

5G means the fifth generation of mobile communication technology, and the three major scenarios for 5G application include mass Internet of Things (IOT), enhanced mobile broadband and key Internet of Things.

One of the scenarios is the application demonstration of eMTC (Cat-M1) VoLTE built by Ericsson in cooperation with China Unicom -- a fire alarm trigger panel. In the practical application scenario, the person who is stranded in the disaster can press the fire alarm trigger panel in case of fire disaster, and notify several relevant departments, such as the fire alarm center, the emergency center and the property management center of the building. This person can also describe the fire scene for the rescuer through speech communication, and gain timely instructions, thus the emergency communication efficiency will be enhanced.

Drone is a typical application of key Internet of Things of 5G, which requires highly reliable network support with low delay, and the same is true with the application of 5G in the pilotless driving area.

Ericsson demonstrated the combination of 5G drone and Ericsson's LTE broadcasting technology. People can view the pictures shot by 5G drone on their mobiles in real time via the LTE broadcasting technology. If such technology is applied in the major sports events, audiences both in and outside the venue can watch the contests from multiple angles and dimensions by use of the technology so that they can enjoy real-time, high-definition and panoramic watching of games.

The number of global 5G users will reach 1 billion by 2023 and over 20 percent of global population will be covered by 5G, Ericsson said in its report on the mobility market.