The Texas 5G Alliance launched this week to advocate for 5G telecommunications technology and infrastructure in Austin and statewide that is needed to bring smart city applications to life.

The alliance seeks to educate people about the technology for rapid deployment statewide and to make Texas a leader in telecommunications infrastructure.

Why is it needed? By 2020, there will be 20.4 billion connected devices worldwide. In North America, data traffic per smartphone will grow nearly 5 times from 5.1 gigabytes per month in 2016 to 25 gigabytes per month in 2022.

“We are on the cusp of groundbreaking technology that will change our everyday lives for the better,” Scott Dunaway, spokesperson for the Texas 5G Alliance, said in a news release. “Texas is setting the pace for innovative and life-changing technologies, such as autonomous vehicles, the internet of things, robotic deliveries, traffic flow solutions, and dedicated public safety and first responder networks, all of which will be dependent on small cell infrastructure that provides broad-scale 5G connectivity. We will aim to ensure Texas is a national and global leader in this pursuit.”

The alliance is made up of innovative companies, infrastructure providers, trade associations and more and includes Crown Castle, Dell, T-Mobile, Google Fiber, Ericsson, Bypass Mobile, Carnegie Technologies, SmartAustin, VERTICOM, Tech Titans and the Austin Chamber of Commerce.

5G Technology is the fifth generation of high-speed wireless technology. It provides vast improvements to 4G technology and is 40 times faster and provides at least four times more coverage worldwide. That kind of telecommunications network powers autonomous vehicles, smart homes, robotics and all kinds of Internet of Things applications.

“Our goal at Dell is to transform the Internet of Things from 100 billion connected devices to a network of 100 billion more intelligently connected devices, and 5G is integral to achieving this goal,” John Howard, Director of Public Policy, Dell, said in a news release. As Michael Dell recently said, “IoT is fundamentally changing how we live, how organizations operate and how the world works. … The implications for our global society will be nothing short of profound.”