We are at the dawn of a technology revolution thanks to billions in investments by telecommunication companies. In the US alone Verizon is investing an estimate of $18 billion dollars in deploying a technology that will exponentially increase the amount of data that is being transmitted over the air. On February 18^th the chamber was honored to host a conversation with Mario Acosta-Velez from Verizon and Ana Rua from Crown Castle to learn about the impact that we will have in the Hispanic community.

It is pretty difficult at this point to predict the exact impact that lower cost of data, higher rates of transfer, and higher network capacity will have in minorities, however we can definitely tell the impact will be extremely positive. In the case of the Maryland Hispanic Chamber of Commerce our members will benefit from the digital transformation of their businesses and the construction of new infrastructure. Restaurants will be able to reduce their costs associated with bank transactions, our service providers will benefit from the increase in demand of personalized services through the internet, and constructions companies will benefit of being able to more closely track costs, assets, and people and participate in more communication related projects.

According to Verizon, wireless infrastructure will be key in driving long-term growth in business communities by enabling industrial automation, making it easier for S.T.E.M education to reach younger generations, and improving transportation, virtual healthcare and real time response by public safety entities. We agree with them.

So what role should Hispanics play in the role-out of such empowering technology? First, we must be supportive of the technology from a policy point of view. Second we must try to get educated about the importance and impact of the technology.

The Boston Consulting Group, one of the most influential consultants in the US, estimates that the each six month delay in the technology could mean a loss of $25 billion in benefits. We should support the roll-out of small cells in the City of Baltimore for example.

We encourage you to checkout our recent conversation with Mario and Ana regarding 5G and learn some interesting facts about this technology.