According to the Finnish telecom giant, in the future, entire cities, hospitals and factories will fully depend on 5G and the capacity it offers to move, process and store vast volumes of data.

A fresh study by Nokia has forecasted that industries that have embraced 5G will have the potential to add $8 trillion to the global GDP by 2030.

Despite the economic challenges presented by COVID-19, a global boom in 5G investment will see massive investments in 5th generation telephony emerge over the next five years, Nokia's report said.

“As organisations across the world move faster towards the deployment of 5G-enabled technologies, those who wish to be the first to leverage its potential cannot afford to lose more time. To capture the tremendous opportunities of 5G, organisations must start or intensify their planning now and accelerate business model innovation to remain competitive in a rapidly digitalising global economy,” Nokia's chief strategy officer Gabriela Styf Sjöman said in a press release.

“5G adoption is categorically shown to fuel business success. Organisations that have integrated 5G stand to benefit from advantages that go way beyond faster, more efficient and reliable network services,” Sjöman said.
The study compared the adoption of 5G in eight countries – Finland, Germany, the UK, the US, Japan, South Korea, Australia and Saudi Arabia – and found significant regional variation, as Europe is lagging behind the US and Asia in the deployment of 5G-enabled technologies.

For instance, in the US, wholly 45 percent of companies intend to invest in 5G technology within the next year. In Finland, the corresponding figure is merely 29 percent. Conversely, a quarter of Finnish companies fear losing their competitive edge if corresponding investments in 5G are not made within the next three years. Barely 13 percent say they don't see any link between company success and the use of 5G technologies.

According to the Nokia study, at present companies are barely scratching the surface of 5G's potential, despite rising investments. Sjöman stressed that entire cities, hospitals and factories of the future will fully depend on 5G and the ability it offers to move, process and store vast volumes of data.

The report also indicated that the coronavirus pandemic is accelerating medium and long-term digital investment and value creation, especially in sectors that have been largely lagging behind. For instance, over a third of Finnish companies claim having increased their investments in digital technology and services as a result of the pandemic. Overall, despite the economic challenges of COVID-19, a global boom in 5G investment will see 71 percent of companies invest in 5G over the next five years.

Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics company, founded in 1865 and headquartered in Espoo, Greater Helsinki. It employs over 100,000 people across 100 countries and reports annual revenues of around $25 billion.