The fifth-generation mobile service (5G) ecosystem will create US$56.7 billion (1.78 trillion baht) in potential cross-industry value, some 4.56% of Thailand's GDP by 2035, says Huawei Technologies.
Manufacturing will be the top contributing industry, comprising $14.3 billion or 25.2% of Thai economic output from 5G, followed by the agricultural sector at $6.6 billion and wholesale and retail, public services and the finance and insurance sectors, respectively.
Analysis from Huawei on Thailand's industry share of 2016 GDP from the World Bank found that the 5G economy will push GDP growth and social development.
The fifth-generation network will contribute 5.5 times Thailand's 2016 GDP volume by 2035.
Lu Liming, 5G business and development director, said several countries are competing to launch the first commercial 5G service in 2019, including the US, South Korea and Japan.
But he said China is set to win that race.
"Thailand must transform its industry-driven economy to become an innovation-driven one in accordance with the government's Thailand 4.0 policy," Mr Liming said.
He said 5G technology will bring about more value to vertical industries under Thailand 4.0.
The technology can transform traditional agriculture, health, manufacturing, automobiles, cities and utility meters (water and gas), allowing for smart farming, smart healthcare, smart manufacturing, connected cars, smart cities, the Internet of Things (IoT) and embedded technology.
Speaking yesterday on the sidelines of the forum "5G Moving Thailand in a Changing World", held by Matichon Group, Mr Liming said the 5G ecosystem is a core national strategy for many leading countries globally.
The 5G technology can provide data up to 100 times faster than 4G, and it will create opportunities for new-use cases for IoT, augmented reality and virtual reality applications, smart vehicles, remote healthcare and robotics, Mr Liming said.
He said 5G in China is forecast to create direct output of 484 billon yuan (2.4 trillion baht) in 2020 and 6.3 trillion in 2030, with an average annual compound growth rate of 29%.
Additionally, 5G will create indirect output of 1.2 trillion yuan in 2020 and 10.6 trillion by 2030, with an average annual compound growth rate of 24%, according to the "5G Economic and Social Impact" white paper.
5G chief expert Zhou Dongfei said the next generation exceeds 4G in three major capabilities: speed, latency and connections.
5G is at least 10 gigabits per second (Gbps) or 10 times faster than 4G, has better latency at 1 millisecond compared with 10 milliseconds, and offers 1 million connections per cell site or 1,000 times that of 4G.
The 5G ecosystem serves everything on the mobile platform, Mr Zhou said.
"4G technology, which began commercial operations globally in 2010, changed people's lifestyles with mobile applications and high definition video," he said. "So 5G will not only change the economy, but also society."
Mr Zhou said public policy driven by 5G will become a crucial part of the national agenda for many countries.
He noted the case of connected cars providing benefits to the whole world, with 1.2 million lives and 3.1 billion gallons of oil saved annually, according to the World Health Organization's 2015 Global Status Report on Road Safety.
But Mr Zhou said 5G needs three core infrastructure components to serve its capabilities -- spectrum, new air interface and new architecture.
Wuttichai Wutti-Udomlert, head of network solutions of Ericsson Thailand, said 5G will benefit multiple industries because any device can provide access to content and enable new business opportunities across industries.
Ericsson forecasts 1 billion 5G subscriptions for enabled mobile broadband by 2023. That forecast is among the key statistics presented in the November edition of the Ericsson Mobility report released yesterday.
Expected to be deployed first in dense urban areas, 5G will cover more than 20% of the world's population by 2023.
Takorn Tantasith, secretary-general of National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), said 5G's arrival should be a crucial part of the national agenda, as awareness needs to be created among businesses and people to realise the benefits and effects of the technology's ecosystem.
The core technology and services of 5G that will change the world are IoT, artificial intelligence, VR and AR, he said.
The NBTC plans to auction spectrum ranges to generate more bandwidth, meeting growing connectivity demands.
The ranges to be auctioned include the 2600MHz spectrum, which is currently held by state-owned public broadcaster MCOT.
MCOT has a total of 380MHz of uplink-downlink bandwidth on the 2600MHz spectrum.