Real, live 5G network services are coming. AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. just announced they’ll be rolling out advanced telecommunications plans for customers before New Year’s. But what’s the bigger picture for trending technologies such as artificial intelligence and self-driving cars?

Obviously, it means faster mobile data networking. But 5G’s low latency will ratchet up the performance of all sorts of applications and systems — some that aren’t even 5G-connected, according to Maribel Lopez (pictured), principal analyst and founder at Lopez Research LLC.

Network latency is the reason a lot of heavily hyped apps have been found wanting, according to Lopez. “I think that’s one of the things that’s been holding back the immersive nature of new applications like [virtual reality],” she said.

Lopez spoke with Jeff Frick, host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the AT&T Spark event this week in San Francisco. They discussed 5G’s ramifications throughout today’s industries.

5G comes bearing gifts even to non-5G devices

Virtual reality and anything real-time — analytics, artificial intelligence and the like — demands warp-speed from the the network. While the debate rages over best practices for moving data from the cloud to the edge and back, it’s clear that a faster network with more bandwidth wouldn’t hurt. And with 5G, it’s finally arriving.

“That opens up a huge amount of new applications,” Lopez said.

Any applications that require snap responses — and which don’t nowadays? — can kick it up a notch with 5G, according to Lopez. The software in autonomous vehicles instantly comes to mind, as does remote medicine. These apps come down to how fast data can move around the network, Lopez explained.

With 5G at large, consumers are going to start noticing performance improvements even without a device explicitly labeled 5G. For example, gamers will be able play eSports games with a low-end personal computer, according to Lopez.

“You’re going to see the benefits of 5G long before everybody’s ubiquitously deployed. And long before everybody has 5G devices, things are just going to work better,” she concluded.

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the AT&T Spark event:

Photo: SiliconANGLE