5G Use Case and Adoption Survey

In its latest survey, Gartner has found that two-thirds of organizations intend to deploy 5G by 2020

To improve the operational efficiency of the Internet of Things (IoT), 66% of the organizations plan to deploy 5G by 2020, finds Gartner’s latest 5G Use Case and Adoption Survey. The primary use of the 5G network being considered by organizations includes IoT communications, video, control and automation, fixed wireless access, and high-performance edge analytics. The statistics revealed from survey say that for 59% of the respondent organizations, IoT communications is the most popular use case followed by videos (to support 4K and 8K HD video content) for 53% organizations.

The survey report goes on to add that some organizations will need 5G fairly quickly, even quicker than many communications service providers (CSPs) can provide them. This is a clear indication that 5G networks, complete with the key network elements – such as edge computing, core network slicing and radio network densification – are either not available or not capable enough to cater to the rising needs of the organizations.

Weak Monetization

The outlook to monetize 5G also remains bleak. Gartner predicts that by 2022, half the CSPs that successfully complete the commercial 5G deployments will fail to monetize their infrastructure investments. This will likely be due to the inability of the systems to fully meet the 5G use case requirements. Going forward into the time bracket 2025-2030, CSPs will achieve a complete end-to-end 5G infrastructure on their public networks, with a focus on radio, core slicing, and edge computing.

Private Networks for Shortto Mid-term Benefits

It is expected that investments in the more relevant and valuable elements of 5G networks—edge computing and core slicing—will be delayed due to primary focus on consumer broadband services. As a result, organizations planning a 5G infrastructure must consider network solutions that, apart from 5G radio, also focus on edge computing and core slicing. Gartner predicts that these networks may not necessarily be offered only by CSPs but also by infrastructure vendors including those suppliers that have cloud and software backgrounds. Therefore, early adopter businesses looking to benefit from 5G in the shortto mid-term may need to choose private networks offered directly by these infrastructure vendors.