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5G to unleash digital verification era

The 5G rollout will enable the world to harness mobile-based security and authentication in a big way, paving way for the elimination.

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VoicenData Bureau
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The 5G rollout will enable the world to harness mobile-based security and authentication in a big way, paving way for the elimination of paper-based processes

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Naveen Chava

By Naveen Chava

India has the world’s highest data usage per smartphone at an average of 9.8 GB per month, a new report by Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson said, adding that this will double to 18 GB by 2024. Globally, the 4G service is expected to peak in 2023 and start declining, and the 5G subscriber base is expected to touch 1.9 Billion by 2024.

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Mobile phones today are the smartest devices with not just connectivity, but also biometrics for verification like facial and voice recognition and fingerprint authentication, pin pad for payments, OTP verification, etc., giving seamless, reduced cycle times and digital access from anywhere. Mobile phones are also the easiest device available for Video KYC that is needed for digital onboarding, irrespective of the geographic limitations.

Coverage of geographic boundaries is required for travel mostly and requires detailed traveler information like his current address, emergency contacts, etc., which is always outdated and needs to be dynamically updated.  In a way, the mobile phone of today is the device for verifiable identity as well as a payment terminal. The user base is the standard of valuation for businesses now and the growing user base is mostly coming from mobile phones whose count will be the same as the world population soon.

The efficiency of business is measured by the user experience and retention which happens not just from the presentation but also from the faster response, throughput, and capacity management. All of this will be even more possible with 5G which will improve the bandwidth by 10X and ultimately deliver the user experience on mobile phones.

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With the advent of 5G, payments, E-retail, and eCommerce will continue to grow along with mobile usage and growth. With 5G coming, we will have data speeds much faster than most of us see on our desktops and laptops or using broadband, and deliver higher multi-Gbps peak data speeds. It will also allow massive network capacity, with a more uniform and higher performance and reliability. Improved efficiency will empower new user experiences across existing and new industries.

5G will expand mobile ecosystem to new industries and user experiences such as boundless extreme reality (XR), seamless IoT, and local interactive content.

Narrow Band-internet of things (NB-IoT) and Cat-M technologies will account for close to 45% of cellular IoT connections in 2024. Emerging industries with new additional devices like IoT devices, drones for emergency services, remote surgeries, autonomous driving, and many others will connect everything and everyone. 5G will expand the mobile ecosystem to new industries and cutting-edge user experiences such as boundless extreme reality (XR), seamless IoT capabilities, new enterprise applications, local interactive content, and instant cloud access.

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We also live in a mobile world where people are always moving around with the need for access to things happening dynamically around us and the instant need for being on top of things and getting things done instantly keeping the concept of anywhere and anytime. Digital identity management will be the key to protect online usage whether it is for shopping or mission-critical communication or any transaction. Authentication should be seamless to the user and at the same time, digital verification should happen instantly. The users should have the ability to choose as many levels of authentication whether it is biometric, pin-based, or OTP-based verification. All of this will be possible with seamless apps which are able to utilize ultra-low latency, more reliability, and increased availability of network-enabled by 5G cellular network which was not possible in the past due to low data rates.

Considering the current worldwide situation, where we are all confined to the home and everything is mostly happening online, digital identity management and verification have become even more important and this can be implemented with the current lesser bandwidth of LTE. However, the user experience can be improved enormously with 5G.

Digital identity management will be the key to protect online usage whether it is for shopping or mission critical communication or any transaction.

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The future of security

The key of the future for an individual will be their digital signature, which will eliminate all paper-based transactions with a higher level of authentication since it can be easily done over an uninterrupted and robust 5G network instantly with data security and identity protection, including verifiable consent to access and share data.

Today, the need for digital signatures exists in all verticals—travel, banking, financial transactions, land transactions, employee verification, welfare scheme disbursements, healthcare, insurance claims, employee remote on-boarding and corporate transactions. The next step will be to enable digital verification and on-boarding of customers, agents, vendors where KYC of any stakeholder is needed with real-time authentication and onboarding possible on mobile and done instantly with a network and data bandwidths available over 5G.

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Imagine ID verification needed for not just eCommerce or cab companies, it is needed for every corporate for employees, their agents, their customers who are buying, selling, and delivering. This requires a lot of cellular airtime that is possible with 5G. Digitally signed, authenticated documents from doctors, diagnostic labs, or government might become a basic document for people to cross borders or go to work at their office in the future and this is what is possible with 5G network coverage.

We will also need to also explore the idea of having healthcare bands and devices capturing data that will have identity management, ADAS cars with verified identity before using the data to upload. All of this will be a reality in the near future.

These could be regularly happening transactions like legally binding contracts or agreements, financial submissions, or one-time Instant e-Consent or e-Sign for additional product selling within the bank, NBFC, or platforms can also be done. The vision of bank on-boarding and instant bank account access will be possible with 5G without the need for a physical visit.

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Emerging industries with IoT devices, drones for emergency services, remote surgeries, autonomous driving and many others will connect everything and everyone.

The leap to an all-digital world of e-signed contracts, digital identity, truly digital banking, digital vehicle identity will be cut short by at least a few years, and instead of 2030, a lot more adoption will happen in 2021 itself because of the pandemic.

Chava is the CEO of IDSign

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