As Covid-19 accelerates medium and long-term digital investment and value creation, 5G-enabled industries have the potential to add $8 trillion to global GDP by 2030, suggests new research from Finnish telecom gear maker Nokia.
The study, however found that there is a gap between intentions and actions when it comes to any kind of 5G deployment for many companies.
While 86 per cent of decision makers said they have some kind of strategy for 5G, only 15 per cent are currently investing in its implementation.
The "5G Business Readiness Report" surveyed 5G adoption among businesses around the world, providing a cross-sector view of the path to full 5G deployment.
The report also highlights a clear correlation between 5G deployment and business performance.
Companies at an advanced level of 5G adoption were the only group to experience a net increase in productivity – over 10 per cent — following Covid-19, and the only group able to maintain or increase customer engagement during the pandemic.
The findings showed that 5G mature companies are also growing considerably faster than their peers.
"5G adoption is categorically shown to fuel business success. Organisations that have integrated 5G stand to benefit from advantages that go way beyond faster, more efficient and reliable network services," Gabriela Styf Sjoman, Chief Strategy Officer at Nokia, said in a statement.
These findings show that the companies who are most 5G mature, and therefore likely also the most advanced in their overall digital transformation, are showing the highest impact in business performance.
Despite the economic challenges of Covid-19, a global boom in 5G investment will see 72 per cent of large companies invest in 5G over the next five years, said the report.
The report forecasts a rapid uptick in investment over the next three years as enterprises seek to expedite digitalization.
A third of companies across all regions fear being outpaced by the competition should they not invest in 5G within the next 3 years.
Nokia's "5G Business Readiness Model" revealed that across eight economies – Australia, Germany, Finland, Japan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, the UK and the US – 50 per cent of companies are at the midway level on 5G readiness, between initial planning, trials and deployment, compared to just 7 per cent that are classed as 5G mature.
