What is 5G? The tech powering next-gen connectivity, explained

The world’s first 5G network launched in 2019, offering low-latency connectivity, faster data speeds, and higher data caps for mobile devices. While the issue of which country actually first launched 5G is up for debate— the U.S. and South Korea are still battling for bragging rights—there’s no dispute around the technology’s impact. The communications firm Ericsson said in its August 2023 Mobility Report that about 260 service providers have since launched commercial 5G services in 92 countries, and around 35 have deployed or launched 5G stand-alone (SA) networks (the latter of which is another version of 5G). Global 5G subscriptions grew by 175 million, according to the Ericsson report, reaching 1.3 billion during the first quarter of 2023, with a projection of five billion 5G subscriptions by 2028.

But the transition from 4G is still a slow one: Per Ericsson, 4G subscriptions rose in that same time span by 11 million to a total of 5.2 billion. In addition, Deloitte’s 2023 Global Digital Consumer Trends survey, based on a poll of 27,150 respondents across 17 countries, suggests that 36% consider the quality of 4G and 5G about the same.

Some experts note that many users, in at least the North American region, are not willing to pay extra for 5G, especially because they consider 4G satisfactory enough for their data speed needs—a trend validated by YouGov’s report which shows “overall consumer willingness to upgrade to 5G hasn’t increased substantially, despite the growth in 5G adoption rates across all age groups.”

Consumer reluctance to transition from the reliable 4G technology, coupled with concerns about security and potential environmental risks, is hindering the seamless integration of 5G technology. But to understand the true significance of 5G, it’s essential to look beyond the telecom industry.

The current 5G landscape

While there’s been more talk about 5G in the telecom industry than in others, 5G’s use cases transcend the telecom industry and are fundamental to our lives more than we know it. 5G’s applications cuts across gaming, augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR), manufacturing, energy, utilities, media and entertainment, healthcare, smart buildings, connected factories, connected retail, and more. Per one report by PwC on the global economic impact of 5G, the technology is estimated to add $1.3 trillion to global GDP by 2030.

Nadav Avni, CMO at device management company Radix, notes that “with 5G infrastructure in place, big data projects are becoming a reality and we are experiencing the revolution of connected smart devices and IoT.” In fact, Avni believes the increasing proliferation of 5G infrastructure and supporting devices worldwide is already leading to a better quality of life and a higher economic growth rate that will continue on an upward trajectory—a claim also supported by GSMA, a trade organization.

Moreover, experts say the majority of telecom companies launching 5G networks used existing 4G/LTE infrastructure as the foundation, creating what’s known as 5G non-standalone (NSA). While 5G NSA helps to deploy some features of 5G faster and at a low cost, it can’t deliver low latency like 5G SA and consumes more power. Some other challenges of 5G NSA include lack of compatibility with existing devices and 4G LTE-based security threats like denial of service (DoS), network device DoS, eavesdropping, and unauthorized data use. When connectivity increases—as is the case with both 5G NSA and 5G SA—so do cyberthreats, says Avni. This necessitates a greater need to protect data when stored, transferred, and accessed. 

Private 5G networks: NTT’S pioneering move

When global tech giant NTT launched what it called “the first globally available private 5G network-as-a-service platform” in 2021, the goal was simple: to help businesses solve challenges with a platform that “goes beyond connectivity, providing security, device and edge management, application development, big data analytics and deep back-office integration.” Two years on and the company hasn’t slowed down in its quest to fuel digital transformation for enterprises across industries like manufacturing, automotive, agriculture, and healthcare.

“Our strategy at NTT has always been to connect devices and people to the different clouds, whether it’s at the edge, on the cloud, or anywhere in between,” Abhijit Dubey, CEO at NTT, tells Fast Company. “Our belief is that edge connectivity where we can provide ultra low latency high bandwidth connectivity in the form of Private 5G will unlock a whole bunch of new use cases for value creation for enterprises.”

P5G, says Shahid Ahmed, executive vice president and new ventures and innovation at NTT—will eliminate the need for several Wi-Fi access points just to have more network coverage, solving the coverage challenge 5G earlier had. For instance, to get full coverage for an automobile company with a million square feet of space, both indoor and outdoor, “you’ll need close to 8 to 10,000 Wi-Fi access points to cover that much square footage,” Ahmed notes. “But with a private 5G network, you can do that with four or five access points and you’ll be done.”

He adds that P5G will also bring sustainability by replacing the thousands of cables businesses have to use for network connection and still offer low latency—the P5G component that enables high-speed processing of large volumes of data with minimal delay.

“It’s sustainable, meaning you don’t have to put cables connecting thousands of access points. Also, security is a big deal in these companies because now you don’t have that many access points unlike when using Wi-Fi. Each access point can increase your risk profile and the threat profile. So I think there’s a lot of businesses, particularly manufacturing companies, mining companies, utilities, that have massive footprints and are going after private 5G.”

The future of 5G

The state of 5G today is rather short of the global connectivity renaissance it promised: PwC notes in a recent report that with all of 5G’s potential, it’s still yet to deliver on its promises. “The ‘killer’ apps—data-intense uses like video and 3D-graphics processing, immersive AR/VR/XR (augmented/virtual/extended reality) experiences, mobile multiplayer gaming, autonomous robots, and connected vehicles—have had limited adoption, haven’t yet fully emerged, or have turned out not to require 5G after all,” the report says. It further adds that customer adoption of 5G remains low, with the GSMA predicting that 5G will still account for only a small share (25%) of all mobile connections at the end of 2025—up from 8% in 2021, but far behind 4G, which will still command 55% of connections.

Despite the challenges, the trajectory of 5G technology points towards increased adoption and integration into various industries. With government policies lowering barriers to entry of acquiring spectrum in countries that have strong 5G enterprise deployments, according to this report by ABI Research, government subsidies for 5G enterprise deployments, government-led 5G enterprise test beds and trials with enterprises, and a 5G policy plan with clearly defined targets, the future looks radiant for 5G. Particularly, P5G networks are enabling companies to deploy new use cases across verticals like manufacturing and automobile.

“Some months ago, we were still in our early days. But in the past three to four months, we’ve turned the corner. The velocity of opportunities coming into our pipeline really accelerated and I think there’s two reasons for that: There’s the availability of devices and the supply chain for 5G has become more streamlined and available. So more devices means better use cases. Better use cases mean productive business cases,” Ahmed says.

He adds that 5G is gradually gaining traction through many use cases like automated guided vehicles (AGVs), seamless communication through push-to-talk “walkie-talkie” systems, and uninterrupted connectivity for always-connected PCs and machine vision applications. He even predicts that there will be enhanced performance of data-intensive Industry 4.0 operations, and that in the next two years, we will begin to see more integration with Wi-Fi. 

For Avni, both  4G and 5G will coexist until 5G reaches its peak—a development he says will occur in “just a matter of time.” He also foretells that reluctant consumers will ultimately upgrade to 5G, especially when their favorite apps get clunky while working on LTE or 4G. While he admits that P5G is revolutionary, he notes that it’s currently very expensive and still being used only by large organizations that cannot compromise on security—like automobile companies, banks, manufacturing companies, and others.

“Once P5G becomes available for all, it will be like fiber to the home, enabling everyone to use it for enhanced security and low latency,” he says.

The world’s first 5G network launched in 2019, offering low-latency connectivity, faster data speeds, and higher data caps for mobile devices. While the issue of which country actually first launched 5G is up for debate— the U.S. and South Korea are still battling for bragging rights—there’s no dispute around the technology’s impact. The communications firm Ericsson said in its August 2023 Mobility Report that about 260 service providers have since launched commercial 5G services in 92 countries, and around 35 have deployed or launched 5G stand-alone (SA) networks (the latter of which is another version of 5G). Global 5G subscriptions grew by 175 million, according to the Ericsson report, reaching 1.3 billion during the first quarter of 2023, with a projection of five billion 5G subscriptions by 2028.

But the transition from 4G is still a slow one: Per Ericsson, 4G subscriptions rose in that same time span by 11 million to a total of 5.2 billion. In addition, Deloitte’s 2023 Global Digital Consumer Trends survey, based on a poll of 27,150 respondents across 17 countries, suggests that 36% consider the quality of 4G and 5G about the same.

Some experts note that many users, in at least the North American region, are not willing to pay extra for 5G, especially because they consider 4G satisfactory enough for their data speed needs—a trend validated by YouGov’s report which shows “overall consumer willingness to upgrade to 5G hasn’t increased substantially, despite the growth in 5G adoption rates across all age groups.”

Consumer reluctance to transition from the reliable 4G technology, coupled with concerns about security and potential environmental risks, is hindering the seamless integration of 5G technology. But to understand the true significance of 5G, it’s essential to look beyond the telecom industry.

The current 5G landscape

While there’s been more talk about 5G in the telecom industry than in others, 5G’s use cases transcend the telecom industry and are fundamental to our lives more than we know it. 5G’s applications cuts across gaming, augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR), manufacturing, energy, utilities, media and entertainment, healthcare, smart buildings, connected factories, connected retail, and more. Per one report by PwC on the global economic impact of 5G, the technology is estimated to add $1.3 trillion to global GDP by 2030.

Nadav Avni, CMO at device management company Radix, notes that “with 5G infrastructure in place, big data projects are becoming a reality and we are experiencing the revolution of connected smart devices and IoT.” In fact, Avni believes the increasing proliferation of 5G infrastructure and supporting devices worldwide is already leading to a better quality of life and a higher economic growth rate that will continue on an upward trajectory—a claim also supported by GSMA, a trade organization.

Moreover, experts say the majority of telecom companies launching 5G networks used existing 4G/LTE infrastructure as the foundation, creating what’s known as 5G non-standalone (NSA). While 5G NSA helps to deploy some features of 5G faster and at a low cost, it can’t deliver low latency like 5G SA and consumes more power. Some other challenges of 5G NSA include lack of compatibility with existing devices and 4G LTE-based security threats like denial of service (DoS), network device DoS, eavesdropping, and unauthorized data use. When connectivity increases—as is the case with both 5G NSA and 5G SA—so do cyberthreats, says Avni. This necessitates a greater need to protect data when stored, transferred, and accessed. 

Private 5G networks: NTT’S pioneering move

When global tech giant NTT launched what it called “the first globally available private 5G network-as-a-service platform” in 2021, the goal was simple: to help businesses solve challenges with a platform that “goes beyond connectivity, providing security, device and edge management, application development, big data analytics and deep back-office integration.” Two years on and the company hasn’t slowed down in its quest to fuel digital transformation for enterprises across industries like manufacturing, automotive, agriculture, and healthcare.

“Our strategy at NTT has always been to connect devices and people to the different clouds, whether it’s at the edge, on the cloud, or anywhere in between,” Abhijit Dubey, CEO at NTT, tells Fast Company. “Our belief is that edge connectivity where we can provide ultra low latency high bandwidth connectivity in the form of Private 5G will unlock a whole bunch of new use cases for value creation for enterprises.”

P5G, says Shahid Ahmed, executive vice president and new ventures and innovation at NTT—will eliminate the need for several Wi-Fi access points just to have more network coverage, solving the coverage challenge 5G earlier had. For instance, to get full coverage for an automobile company with a million square feet of space, both indoor and outdoor, “you’ll need close to 8 to 10,000 Wi-Fi access points to cover that much square footage,” Ahmed notes. “But with a private 5G network, you can do that with four or five access points and you’ll be done.”

He adds that P5G will also bring sustainability by replacing the thousands of cables businesses have to use for network connection and still offer low latency—the P5G component that enables high-speed processing of large volumes of data with minimal delay.

“It’s sustainable, meaning you don’t have to put cables connecting thousands of access points. Also, security is a big deal in these companies because now you don’t have that many access points unlike when using Wi-Fi. Each access point can increase your risk profile and the threat profile. So I think there’s a lot of businesses, particularly manufacturing companies, mining companies, utilities, that have massive footprints and are going after private 5G.”

The future of 5G

The state of 5G today is rather short of the global connectivity renaissance it promised: PwC notes in a recent report that with all of 5G’s potential, it’s still yet to deliver on its promises. “The ‘killer’ apps—data-intense uses like video and 3D-graphics processing, immersive AR/VR/XR (augmented/virtual/extended reality) experiences, mobile multiplayer gaming, autonomous robots, and connected vehicles—have had limited adoption, haven’t yet fully emerged, or have turned out not to require 5G after all,” the report says. It further adds that customer adoption of 5G remains low, with the GSMA predicting that 5G will still account for only a small share (25%) of all mobile connections at the end of 2025—up from 8% in 2021, but far behind 4G, which will still command 55% of connections.

Despite the challenges, the trajectory of 5G technology points towards increased adoption and integration into various industries. With government policies lowering barriers to entry of acquiring spectrum in countries that have strong 5G enterprise deployments, according to this report by ABI Research, government subsidies for 5G enterprise deployments, government-led 5G enterprise test beds and trials with enterprises, and a 5G policy plan with clearly defined targets, the future looks radiant for 5G. Particularly, P5G networks are enabling companies to deploy new use cases across verticals like manufacturing and automobile.

“Some months ago, we were still in our early days. But in the past three to four months, we’ve turned the corner. The velocity of opportunities coming into our pipeline really accelerated and I think there’s two reasons for that: There’s the availability of devices and the supply chain for 5G has become more streamlined and available. So more devices means better use cases. Better use cases mean productive business cases,” Ahmed says.

He adds that 5G is gradually gaining traction through many use cases like automated guided vehicles (AGVs), seamless communication through push-to-talk “walkie-talkie” systems, and uninterrupted connectivity for always-connected PCs and machine vision applications. He even predicts that there will be enhanced performance of data-intensive Industry 4.0 operations, and that in the next two years, we will begin to see more integration with Wi-Fi. 

For Avni, both  4G and 5G will coexist until 5G reaches its peak—a development he says will occur in “just a matter of time.” He also foretells that reluctant consumers will ultimately upgrade to 5G, especially when their favorite apps get clunky while working on LTE or 4G. While he admits that P5G is revolutionary, he notes that it’s currently very expensive and still being used only by large organizations that cannot compromise on security—like automobile companies, banks, manufacturing companies, and others.

“Once P5G becomes available for all, it will be like fiber to the home, enabling everyone to use it for enhanced security and low latency,” he says.