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UK manufacturers are among the keenest to adopt 5G

13 June, 2019

UK manufacturers are among the keenest to adopt 5G technologies, according to a survey of 800 industrial company executives and 150 telecoms executives in 12 leading countries, performed by Cap Gemini. It found that 75% of UK companies (and a similar proportion in Italy) want to implement 5G within two years of it becoming available. This puts them ahead of the global average of 65% and Germany, where the figure is just 49%.

Italy seems even keener than the UK, with 35% of its executives wanting to implement 5G within the first year of its availability, compared to 23% in the UK, 30% in France and 15% in Germany. Not surprisingly, the report shows that bigger organisations want to implement 5G sooner, with 74% of those with revenues above $10bn wanting to adopt the technology within two years, compared to 57% of companies with revenues of $500m–$1bn.

Across the 12 countries, the executives rank 5G as the second most important enabler for achieving digital transformation, behind cloud computing, but ahead of advanced automation, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. They believe that 5G’s versatility, flexibility and reliability will help them to tackle connectivity challenges, which are a limiting factor in achieving digital transformation for 44% of those polled.

When asked why they want to invest in 5G, more than half of those surveyed cited more secure operations (54%) and efficiency/cost savings (52%). The executives believe that 5G will enable, or enhance, activities such as real-time edge analytics, remote control, AI and augmented/virtual reality.

Industrialists in some countries are keener than others to adopt 5G. The blue bars indicate the proportion that plan to implement 5G within a year of it being available, while the pink bars show those willing to wait two years.
Source: Cap Gemini

Some industrialists worry that telecoms operators are being too slow to roll out public 5G networks. This, coupled with a desire for greater security and autonomy means that 33% of companies plan to apply for their own 5G licences, rising to 47% among large organisations.




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