By Juan Pedro Tomás
A survey carried out by UK5G, which focuses on accelerating the adoption of 5G in the UK, found that 70 per cent of the surveyed businesses are now using 5G or planning deployments.
According to the survey, 73 per cent of the businesses surveyed were confident that they understood the benefits of 5G, while 70 per cent have a plan for how they will use it to achieve competitive advantage. The survey also showed that two thirds (66%) believe 5G will make a positive contribution to their corporate sustainability efforts as well as help improve customer experience (65%).
“5G, along with other forms of advanced communications, has the potential to transform business models, generate new revenue streams by unleashing the Internet of Things, and give organizations new insights through data that enable them to improve the service they provide for customers. This encouraging research shows the appetite of business in sectors such as the creatives industries, transport and logistics, manufacturing and health and social care, to embrace the opportunities 5G can bring,” head of UK5G, Bob Driver said.
UK5G noted that there are still challenges that are preventing businesses from investing in 5G or maximizing its potential. The survey showed that 63 per cent of UK businesses cited the complexity and cost of infrastructure, installation and integration as the main challenge to overcome. As well as the cost of deployment, there is still an issue with organizations not fully understanding how to deploy 5G solutions.
Despite these challenges, 45 per cent of businesses are planning to make investments in 5G by 2023. Also, business leaders demonstrated an active curiosity in the best practices which will pave the way for a successful deployment. Almost two thirds (66%) said industry-specific benefits of 5G would incentivize them to invest. However, 58 per cent of the surveyed businesses require further guidance on how to integrate 5G with existing infrastructure, while over half (51%) would see value in best practice guides to assist with their deployment.
UK5G’s survey also showed that organizations also want to see further insight being shared by the technology and telecoms industry, with 46 per cent saying they will turn to big tech and 40 per cent looking to mobile network operators to improve their grasp on how to deploy 5G in a way that is commercially viable.
“The UK has an established ecosystem of support for businesses looking to deploy 5G in a way that brings them competitive advantage and return on investment. UK5G brings together a host of expertise across the technology and telecoms industries and works with a broad spectrum of organizations to help them navigate 5G and support them in overcoming the hurdles to deployment,” Driver added.
