Ubiquitous Connectivity And An Immersive Future

Part 2 In A Conversation With Verizon’s Tami Erwin

This is the second article in a two-part series from a recent interview from the Forbes Futures in Focus podcast featuring Tami Erwin, the CEO of Verizon Business. Here she discusses 5G, 6G and their ubiquity in the next decade, as well as her views around an immersive digital future driving transformative outcomes.

Much like air and water, connectivity is becoming an essential part of living, and everybody should have equal access to it. It shouldn’t be something that’s privileged by geography or income or infrastructure. Everybody should have access to it, 24/7/365.

Tami Erwin: I completely agree. That’s why we’re so excited about the spectrum holdings that we’ve acquired. It allows for the ability to serve every customer, and to serve it in segments — like our TracFone segment, which has traditionally been a prepaid segment — to bring that segment up to the performance of our network. We can scale to serve high-end premium customers, and we have the ability to serve up and down the spectrum of customers and give them access. We think that’s a game changer for everybody. Consider some of the vertical applications. Think about a kid who now has the ability to get into metaverse and what that might look like. Think about being immersed while in your kitchen, receiving a history lesson where you’re standing in the Coliseum in a virtual classroom environment and your instructor is showcasing the different pieces of the Coliseum and teaching with real examples, right there, instead of a merely reading a textbook.

Immersive education can change the way kids learn. Imagine if every child could have access to that. Consider the possibilities, ten years in the future, for a medical student engaging with lessons via augmented reality. At Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, Dr. Michael Crow has done some spectacular work there. If you’re a Biology 101 student today, you can come in and work in a 5G environment with edge computing. You learn in an AR/VR environment where information is served up to you in highly engaging way, instead of via rote memorization. Technology can be used to unlock different kinds of patient and customer outcomes. I think education is on track to be radically disrupted by technology, from elementary learners all the way through university learners — and, quite frankly, business learners also, especially as things are changing so quickly around us.

Step ahead to the year 2030 or so. How much education do you think is going to be delivered this way, throughout the economic and social chain? Will it be a much more common experience for everybody?