Revenues from 5G will grow from $100 million (€92.1 million) at launch to more than $65 billion (€59.4 billion) in just five years, new research has claimed.
A report from Juniper Research takes 2020 as the starting point for 5G, despite intentions from some operators and vendors to go live with networks during the Winter Olympics in three years time. The analyst firm said at least $25 billion (€23.1 billion) will be spent on 5G research, trials and development during the next five years.
By 2025, 5G revenues will account for around seven percent of operators’ total revenues. Operators are predicted to launch a new range of services, such as data intensive applications, HD video, self-driving cars and virtual reality.
However, the report warned widespread adoption is only likely to happen in the years after 2025 as spectrum auctions are expected to take place over a number of years. It also recommended operators offer a wide range of services in order to get a return on their investments.
Researcher Nitin Bhas said: “These discrete segments or services will require transparent and competitive pricing based on data usage, device type, and speeds; this means that profit margins will vary with regards to the sector enabled.”
A glut of 5G trials are currently underway, with Ericsson and SK Telecom exploring how network efficiency can improve network performance.
Nokia and NTT DOCOMO have hit speeds of 10GBps by using 4.9GHz spectrum in their own 5G trials.
Mobile Europe revealed yesterday that Swisscom is planning its own 5G research with an Asian telco later this year.