5G research and reports are being used to predict and measure the current state of play within 5G technology, and some of the world’s leading technology, testing, research, and financial companies have invested large sums in pulling information together into online reports and surveys.
Sadly, such 5G research is often buried away within the news archive of corporate websites, or falls out of circulation after a few days of being shared online. In this post, we have pulled together a number of the most insightful and relevant reports, providing you with a single page where you can access the latest stats and information.
So, whether you’re pulling together a presentation, looking for credible figures to support a piece of research or investment, or simply educating yourself on the role 5G is currently playing, and will play in the future, this post will hopefully provide you with the relevant insight.
1. The global economic impact of 5G
This piece of 5G research from PwC has claimed that by the year 2030, 5G technology will contribute More than one trillion dollars in global GDP, with the US and UK accounting for $484bn and $54bn respectively.
The report, titled ‘The global economic impact of 5G’, found that productivity and efficiency gains will drive 5G adoption, but it’s in the health and social sectors that 5G is expected to provide the biggest uplift.
According to the report, over half the global economic impact (US$530bn) will be driven by the transformation of health and social care within the next decade, with 25 percent coming via smart utilities in energy, water and waste management.
2. 5G User Experience Report for Australia
In August 2020, Opensginal, a mobile testing company, released a new report that focussed on the current state of 5G in Australia, with Telstra and Optus vying for the position of best provider.
Vodafone was not included in the testing, as its availability was limited, but for the remaining two providers, Opensignal tested the average speed of the 5G connection when users have an active 5G link; the time users spend connected to 5G represented by 5G Availability; and the overall speed our 5G users experience across different generations of mobile technology, which the company calls ‘Download Speed Experience – 5G Users’.
3. The global telco 5G cloud gaming opportunity
In September 2020 Ribbon Communications surveyed 5,000 gamers about their views on 5G, in a piece of 5G research that highlighted the increasing willingness of gamers to spend more for superior speeds and lower latency.
The ‘The global telco 5G cloud gaming opportunity’ survey of 5,000 gamers across the UK, US, Japan, South Korea, and Germany, revealed a $150 billion revenue opportunity for carriers offering 5G services to gamers, with 79% saying they would ditch their broadband connection for a 5G service that improved speed and latency.
4. The impact of mid-band 5G: lessons learned from early adopters
This September 2020 report from global crowdsourced data company, Tutela, focussed on mid-band 5G spectrum, looking at what this could mean for US consumers, as it reviewed countries where mid-band 5G is the primary deployment type.
This 5G research focuses on South Korea, Australia, Suadi Arabia, Switzerland, Spain, and the UK. All of these countries had allocated mid-band spectrum by March, 2019, and by measuring their coverage and performance, Tutela can provide a snapshot of what the US can expect.
5. Realising 5G’s full potential: setting policies for success
In this report, the GSMA – the global industry organisation that represents 750 mobile operators around the world – revealed that, despite a great deal of progress being made with the global 5G rollout, there is still a considerable amount of work to be done.
The GSMA report, titled ‘Realising 5G’s full potential: Setting policies for success’, has been created in partnership with Boston Consulting Group (BCG), and offers advice and context for mobile network operators and enterprises looking to take 5G to the next stage of its development.
6. COVID-19 and corporate strategies in the US and China
A report from Wind River, a software company specialising in intelligent edge products, shows that spend on 5G projects has significantly increased since the coronavirus pandemic, highlighting that – whilst 5G rollout may be stalling – the focus on 5G investment amongst enterprises is increasing.
The Wind River study, titled ‘COVID-19 and Corporate Strategies in the U.S. and China: A Seismic Event Demanding Change and Action from Top Executives’, surveyed 400 executives within enterprises with revenues ranging from $100 million to $1 billion, and online research was conducted from April 12 to April 20, 2020 (for respondents in the US), and from April 16 to April 23, 2020 (for respondents in China).
The 5G research found that those enterprises looking to digitally transform are placing over 50% more focus on key investment areas such as 5G, containers, and cloud native. And the research findings among these leaders indicate that they understand the core technology components that will be vital for digital transformation.
7. 5G for SMEs: what does it mean for CSPs?
According to a 2021 report from BearingPoint//Beyond, in collaboration with Omdia, the SME services market, worth $433 billion by 2025, is being overlooked by CSPs delivering 5G services, with 70% of resources aimed at just 1% of businesses in the enterprise sector.
The study, titled ‘5G for SMEs: what does it mean for CSPs?’, reveals that whilst SMEs might make 99% of the world’s businesses, the majority of CSPs are focusing 70 percent of their resources on the one percent enterprise market.
“Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are often viewed as the unfashionable end of the B2B universe – only one in three communication service providers (CSPs) view them as a major source of future 5G revenue,” the report says. “However, they can be an important asset in the 5G landscape.”
8. 5G in the UK: The 5G experience across the UK’s 16 biggest cities
RootMetrics by IHS Markit has published its latest 5G in the UK report, which delivers key data and insights on 5G availability and speed in 16 of the UK’s biggest cities, with a focus on 5G performance in Greater and central London.
The new RootMetrics report found that 5G median download speeds in the UK hit 216.6 Mbps on Vodafone’s network in London, whilst EE was the best provider of 5G availability across London, with 40% in Greater London and 83% in the centre.
Customers of the four major 5G networks in the UK – EE, 02, Three, and Vodafone – will be pleased to hear that 5G services in the UK have improved since initial deployments, with speeds and availability increasing. But the report found some key differences between major providers, and below is an overview of how each operator fared.
9. 5G 2021: Market Drivers, Insights & Consideration
Spirent Communications, the leading testing and analytics company for mobile devices and networks, has released its second annual 5G outlook report, based on analysis and takeaways from over 600 global 5G engagements in 2020.
The ‘5G 2021: Market Drivers, Insights & Consideration’ report provides insights from across the 5G eco-system on the current status of 5G, and one area that draws particular focus is a look ahead to what the main 5G trends will be in 2021.
10. Verizon 5G business report
This 2021 report reveals that seven in 10 business decision-makers (BDMs) say that 5G will help their company overcome the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Verizon, conducted in partnership with Morning Consult, polled 700 business technology decision-makers across the United States, asking them about their views on 5G, with the majority - 69 percent - saying that they believed 5G would help them recover from the impact of Coronavirus.
The 5G research focussed on a number of areas, and was conducted to gauge interest in how 5G might be applied to sectors such as the sports, entertainment, media, government, healthcare, manufacturing, and retail.
11. TMT predictions 2021
A 2021 report from Deloitte – titled Technology, Media, and Telecommunications Predictions 2021 – has focussed specifically on perceived 5G dangers, having discovered in 2020 that up to one fifth of people in ‘advanced economies’ believe 5G comes with associated health risks.
In its 2021 TMT Predictions report, Deloitte has focussed on 5G health concerns, debunking many of the myths around mobile networking technology.
12. Cost-benefit analysis on full 5G deployment - UK results
A November 2020 study conducted by Analysys Mason, on behalf of Ericsson and Qualcomm, has calculated the effect that 5G use cases will have on the UK’s economy, and has concluded that it can deliver £14.8bn in additional economic growth for the UK, with a five-fold increase in ROI, at a cost of £3bn.
And what’s particularly noteworthy about the study – titled ‘Cost-benefit analysis on full 5G deployment’ – is that, of the £14.8bn in projected contribution from 5G technology, more than 75% of that will come from just three sectors: manufacturing, construction and agriculture.
13. Review of 138 mmWave studies finds “no evidence” of 5G health risks
In a bid to try and make sense of the 100+ studies that have been undertaken into the health effects of 5G millimeter wave technology, two new scientific reviews have been carried out by the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) and Swinburne University of Technology.
Both reviews found no evidence of adverse health effects from the radio waves used in 5G.
The review of 138 pieces of 5G research, which included 107 experimental studies, investigated potential effects of 5G technology on genotoxicity, cell proliferation, gene expression, cell signalling, and membrane function, finding no significant evidence of a health risk.
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