The deployment of 5G technology is set to create over two million jobs and generate EUR 113.1 billion a year of benefits for the European economy by 2025, according to a European Commission supported study. Although the total cost of deploying 5G across all EU member states could reach some EUR 56 billion in 2020, the return on that investment could result in trickle-down benefits totalling as much as EUR 141.8 billion a year, according to the year-long study prepared for the EC by InterDigital Europe, Real Wireless, Tech4i2 and Trinity College Dublin’s Connect programme.
The report said the benefits and capabilities of 5G were “extremely broad and varied”, but its impact would mainly be felt in three main capabilities, namely, truly ubiquitous mobile broadband coverage offering “50Mbps everywhere” speeds, scalable products for large scale M2M/IoT networks in all verticals and environments, and “ultra-tactile internet”, a capability with the potential to unlock futuristic applications and services including real-time sense-respond-actuation cycles that enable human-device and device-device interactions.
The estimation of an annual EUR 113.1 billion benefit by 2025 was calculated from first order benefits across four vertical industries (automotive, health, transport and utilities) totalling EUR 62.5 billion, and second order benefits across four “environments” (smart cities, non-urban, smart homes and the workplace) totalling EUR 50.6 billion. The report added that 63 percent of the total benefits would arise for business and 37 percent will be provided for both consumers and society.
