Survey: majority of businesses not ready for 5G

A new study from network edge solutions company Cradlepoint has suggested that while businesses expect 5G to be a “major part of their technology roadmap,” the majority have “a long way to go” before they are actually ready to implement a solution.

The research, which was carried out at June’s 5G World Summit in London, suggests that 78 per cent of organisations consider that 5G and Gigabit-Class LTE “may” impact on their technology roadmap over the course of the next two years. At the same time, only 21 per cent of the 200 communications professionals interviewed said that they are fully prepared for adoption, with nearly half admitting that they have made negligible preparations to implement 5G.

Nearly three quarters of respondents stated that concerns around security have the potential to limit how quickly their organisation adopts the technology. According to Cradlepoint, the challenge may also be magnified by current limited understanding of the difference between LTE/Gigabit-Class LTE and 5G, with 79 per cent of respondents admitting their confusion.

Jason Wells, vice president and general manager EMEA at Cradlepoint, said: “Businesses need to define their pathway to 5G as a matter of urgency, but many are unsure where to begin. Gigabit-Class LTE, for example, is a mature, higher performance expansion of the 4G LTE network offering theoretical download speeds of at least 1 Gbps. It’s a wireless option that businesses should be considering now.