In October, the next generation of broadband standard, 5G, was launched in India. By December, 5G was available in 50 cities. It is touted to play an active role in India’s digital transformation journey, particularly across certain sectors such as logistics.
Prasad Sreeram, CEO & Co-Founder, COGOS, a tech services provider for transporters, expressed confidence that it would vastly improve productivity in logistics. “Technology-enabled logistics companies use telematics and IoT devices, and we are sure that 5G will help them enhance output. 5G enables a new level of connectivity with faster speeds and lower latency within transportation technology, improving the delivery of data from sensors to dispatch and operations and, ultimately, back to the driver, resulting in productivity and performance improvements,” he said.
If companies start using 5G tech, it would vastly benefit customers by giving them a more personalised experience.
It can play an instrumental role in curating video-immersive experiences for customers and partners, said Pranav Goel, CEO & Co-Founder of logistics firm Porter. “It will also aid in extensive customer support through video agents along with vehicle inspection and improved user interaction across segments, including the packers and movers.”
Goel also mentioned that a boosted video experience can be used to onboard and train partners and enable faster fleet management.
With the influx of 5G, the sector can witness infrastructural growth on a large scale such as improved smart warehouses and fully automated transportation systems and inventory management.
Apart from this, 5G is also likely to reduce costs in the logistics sector.
Sreeram explained that 5G in supply chain operations can help companies optimise routes to avoid inefficiencies. With an improved network connectivity, fleet owners can realise “enhanced vehicle location tracking and situation-rich, context-rich road condition analysis” using high-resolution GIS mapping and GPS features.
“Lack of connectivity leads to increased resource deployment in rural areas, which can now be decreased. That resource can be deployed elsewhere. Better connectivity will also lead to better tracking, less misplacement of goods, which also will save cost,” he said.
It would be a boon in rural areas where challenges around lost signals and insufficient coverage have plagued the industry. These issues lead to revenue leakage and create bottlenecks for re-establishing inventory checks, said the CEO of COGOS. “Firstly, weak coverage for monitoring and tracking will be tackled as the sector is rapidly expanding in tier- 2 & -3 cities. With the lower frequency band providing wider coverage in suburban and rural areas, and the higher frequency band providing better coverage in high-density urban areas, the logistics and supply chain industry will finally be able to provide end-to-end continuous coverage,” he said.
However, there are some limitations here too. Deploying heavy technology in such areas can be difficult because of complicated geographies and extremely weak networks.
The CEO of Cogos pointed out that various countries have integrated 5G in logistics and supply chain management. One major lesson from these experiences is that it is necessary to build efficient technology that can make 5G fruitful for the sector. “We need to work hard towards building even better technology than what we have right now since 5G integration would not help if we do not efficiently build platforms,” he added.
