It will be the year of 5G, all over again Sign in with LinkedIn
21 December 2020 | Alan Burkitt-Gray It is already the fastest growing mobile technology in history, but the success of 5G in 2021 depends, like so much else, on the Covid-19 pandemic. Alan Burkitt-Gray looks at the mobile industry’s forecasts
The New Year will be the year of 5G; but a year ago people were saying that about 2020, until the pandemic put a stop to everything. And Covid-19 has been a huge influence on the prospects for mobile networks and will continue to be in 2021.
The GSMA, the industry’s trade body, representing operators and vendors, says the pandemic caused a negative impact of 4-8% in telecoms revenues, though this was half the overall impact on developed economies.
Tuesday 15 December, 2020
Navigating Covid-19 and Beyond: Trends and Updates for Global Mobile Markets
15 December 2020, London: GSMA Intelligence has published its annual “Global Mobile Trends” research report, sharing insights for the global mobile industry following the Covid-19 pandemic. The report forms part of an annual report series where we take an end-of-year view of the most important trends shaping the telco and wider TMT sectors.
Beyond Covid-19, our report analyses the telecom industry’s underlying trends, such as 5G adoption, which are building momentum and shaping the telecom sector outlook. Other trends include network transformation and the shift to open RAN; enterprise digitisation; changes to consumer entertainment consumption from streaming and immersive reality; and the 4G smartphone wave in emerging markets. Provided there is a gradual economic recovery in 2021, we expect activity in each of these areas to gather pace,” said the GSMA Intelligence’s