Productivity and efficiency gains enabled by 5G’s application will drive business, skills and service change worth $1,3-trillion to global GDP by 2030 (EMEA region: $361-billion), according to a new report issued by PwC on the economic impact of 5G.
In “Powering Your Tomorrow”, PwC quantifies for the first time, the economic impact of new and existing uses of 5G in utilities, health and social care, consumer, media, and financial services across several economies with advanced rollout.
More than a faster version of mobile connectivity on 4G, 5G’s speed, reliability, reduced energy usage and massive connectivity will be transformative for businesses and wider society, enabling ubiquitous access to super fast broadband. Used in combination with investments in artificial intelligence (AI) and the internet of things (IoT), 5G can be used as a platform to enable business and society to realise the full benefits of emerging technology advances.
Economic gains are projected across all economies assessed in the study, as 5G offers the potential to rethink business models, skills, products and services, with the gains accelerating beginning in 2025 as 5G-enabled applications become more widespread
Based on the study, the US ($484-billion), China ($220-billion) and Japan ($76-billion) will experience the largest uplift as a result of 5G technology applications, due to the size of their economies and strong modern industrial production sectors.
Regional and sector impacts
At a sector level, impacts vary for individual economies. The USA and Australia are projected to gain the most from financial services applications: India from smart utilities; China and Germany in manufacturing.
At a regional level Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) is expected to benefit the most from health and social care applications of 5G. It demonstrates the potential for regional competitive advantage through approaches to the adoption and regulation of the technology.
Other industries analysed in the study show the significant potential of new and existing applications by 2030, driving changes in skills, jobs, consumer products and regulation:
* Healthcare applications will generate higher economic value by enabling a new, connected healthcare ecosystem including telemedicine, streamlined doctor-patient interactions and information sharing, and the use of drones (EMEA region: $127-billion).
* SMART utilities management applications will support environmental targets to reduce carbon and waste through enabling combined smart meters and grids to deliver energy savings, and improving waste and water management through tracking of waste and water leakage (EMEA region: $83-billion).
* Consumer and media applications include: over the top (OTT) gaming, real time advertising and customer services (EMEA region: $66-billion).
* Manufacturing and heavy industry applications include: monitoring and reducing defects, increased autonomous vehicle use (EMEA region: $65-billion).
* Financial services applications including reducing fraud and improving customer experiences (EMEA region: $19-billion).
Elmo Hildebrand, TMT leader for PwC Africa says: “The rollout of 5G in the coming years will create value in many industries and for society. Innovative uses of the technology show promise in a wide variety of settings. The new levels of connectivity and collaboration that 5G enables will amplify and deepen the insights that organisatons can gain from connected technologies.
“With the Covid-19 pandemic accelerating digitalisation across all sectors, 5G will act as a further catalyst in accelerating technology’s transformation of skills, business models and society. Companies will be able to see, attempt and achieve more, opening new opportunities for growth as they rethink and reconfigure the way they do business in the near future. 5G will be a key part of their new operating environment.”
Achieving better, faster outcomes in health and social care
Over half the global economic impact ($530-billion) will be driven by the transformation of health and social care experience for patients, providers and medical staff within the next 10 years.
While the acceleration of telemedicine during the Covid-19 pandemic provided a glimpse of the future of healthcare, remote care is just one area in which 5G can enable both better health outcomes and cost savings.
5G’s applications include remote monitoring and consultations, real time in-hospital data sharing, improved doctor-patient communications and automation in hospitals to reduce health care costs.
Consumer and media: transforming the home sector
Even before the outbreak of COVID-19, mobile connectivity was playing an increasingly important role in the consumer and media industry.
PwC’s “Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2020-2024” found that the pandemic has accelerated ongoing shifts in consumer behaviour. This creates the potential for significant gains from 5G, which can enable consistent, high quality experiences wherever people are – at home or on the move.
Hildebrand adds: “The advent of 5G networks will impact the entire technology, media and telecommunications value chain over the next decade.
“5G will impact virtually every industry, but Entertainment & Media (E&M) companies will be among the earliest to incorporate 5G into their offerings and business models.
“Consumers will use high-speed mobile data to access more content and services, thereby opening up revenue opportunities in the E&M sector, including gaming, video games, high-definition streaming of sporting events, music and over-the-top (OTT) video.”
Policy and trust
The study highlights that the reach of 5G’s technology potential will require businesses and government to consider new approaches to regulatory and consumer engagement – focusing on how the technology is used.
Hildebrand concludes: “The 5G era is here. Organisations will need to consider factoring 5G into their technology road maps.
“Business leaders will need to take stock of their business models and processes and consider how 5G can enable improvements and opportunities. They’ll also need to collaborate closely with partners in a wide array of industries, including technology, media and retail, and to combine 5G with other enabling technologies, such as AI and IoT.”