Research Overview

As many people continue to work from home, the essential nature of the telecom industry has become more apparent. Both wired and wireless communications networks have seen dramatic changes in use—and have held up quite well. The industry has felt negative financial impacts from the pandemic and will continue to do so until it passes; although they are relatively minor compared to other industries, they raise the question of how this will influence the planned rollout of 5G globally.

This is an important question, beyond just the financial health of the telecom industry. The rollout of 5G has been planned in steps that follow the release of industry standards, as will be discussed below. 5G is just at the first step: it improves upon the fourth generation of wireless technology (4G), but still requires 4G. The promise of 5G comes with the steps that follow over the next few years. As 5G matures, a wide range of industries will be affected—well beyond just the telecom industry. This report will examine how the pandemic will impact the rollout of 5G and look at how it will impact the overall telecom industry.