Status Quo 5G – Significant progress

Status Quo 5G – Significant progress

Berlin, 28/10/2019

The Infosys Knowledge Institute (IKI), the global thought leadership and research division of Infosys, has published its new study „State of 5G – The Road Ahead“. The aim of the survey was to gain insights into the current status of the 5G introduction.

In addition, current and future initiatives should be identified that can serve as a guide for corporate executives during their 5G digital transformation.

As part of the study, Infosys interviewed executives at companies across 12 industries with annual sales of over $ 1 billion in the US, Europe, UK, Australia, and New Zealand. The study gathered empirical evidence to show that extensive machine communication will be the most widely used 5G application. The biggest obstacle to the introduction is data security.

The most important points:

Ninety percent of companies actively identify business opportunities, develop application scenarios with partners or define service portfolios based on 5G technology.

Nearly 60 percent of respondents cited costs and effectiveness as the key criteria for implementing application scenarios, while 57 percent of respondents said they had 5G

as a guarantor of new sources of revenue.

More than 50 percent of companies are looking for 5G application scenarios that will help them significantly change the market or strengthen their brand.

Data security (59 percent), the search for the right talent (57 percent) and the availability of the right equipment (57 percent) were identified as major obstacles when introducing 5G.

Industry-specific requirements: For energy and utilities, it’s integration, while the manufacturing industry identifies virtualized 5G deployment as key challenges.

The maintenance of the new technology (47 percent) and the definition of a roadmap for the further development of AI and ML technologies (33 percent) proved to be key challenges after implementation.

Almost 50 percent of companies are convinced that system integrators play an important role in the 5G implementation.

Also, 50 percent of respondents said that high-volume machine-to-machine communication will undergo major changes, followed by extremely reliable and low-latency services (48 percent) and improved cellular broadband (43 percent).

Status of 5G in all industries:

The Consumer Retail & Logistics (CRL) and Energy & Utilities (E & U) sectors are leaders in their 5G strategy. They are experimenting with in-store experiences or smart grids, interactive experiences in the provision of media, smart spaces and decentralized health care.

The telecommunications industry is driving application scenarios (57 percent) that can help them significantly change the market.

The supply industry has evolved beyond the business scenario phase to focus more on prototyping. The industries on the demand side are more likely to be characterized by restrained users who first want to look at user scenarios.

Standards-defining organizations were named preferred partners in 5G evolution by nearly 50 percent of respondents. An in-depth understanding of 5G and the ability to make a seamless transition between technologies are the key selection criteria for partners.

Nitesh Bansal, Senior Vice President and Global Head, Engineering Services, Infosys: „5G has significant transformation potential for both network providers and the companies using this technology. Network operators get a variety of opportunities for virtualization, artificial intelligence, and network automation. At the same time, the associated costs can be significantly reduced. The provision of network-based services is also improving. Companies, on the other hand, have significant added value because application scenarios are possible that would not be feasible without low latency and high bandwidth coverage. With our study „State of 5G – The Road Ahead“ we want to give a comprehensive overview of the introduction and the challenges in the implementation of 5G. It also shows relevant application scenarios. For companies that want to open up new opportunities in the 5G area, they play an important role. „

You can download the complete report hier.