Skywaves and airwaves: the case for drones in emergency response

Unmanned/uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, continue to be a promising future means of transporting goods and people, and an enabler of transformational applications. UAVs are moving towards early commercial adoption, following advances in drone capabilities, improved availability of hardware and affordable pricing of equipment.

The mobile industry is increasingly associated with UAVs, as more operators bring UAV services to market and extensive testing takes place. 5G’s role in elevating the performance of UAVs is paramount.

This is the first of a two-part Spotlight series on the changing commercial models for UAVs, underpinned by mobile connectivity and technologies. While the second Spotlight will focus on people density data, this research highlights the crucial role mobile operators play in facilitating drone applications for emergency response, and how they have several routes to monetise applications.