Is market leadership a key driver for 5G tech investment?

The global survey of 355 senior technology leaders and strategists from service providers and technology companies, assessed their progress towards 5G deployment. Fifty four percent of companies are already developing their 5G technologies, with 56% saying they will deploy their next-gen networks in 2019, and 16% of them having already deployed 5G.

The Keysight 2018 State of 5G Survey shows more than half (54%) of companies surveyed are already adopting 5G technologies, with 46% citing securing early market leadership in the 5G lifecycle as the primary driver for their investments.

Over two thirds (69%) of respondents said they are actively seeking 5G test solutions to accelerate the development or rollout out of 5G technology, to avoid being outpaced by market rivals.

“To meet customer demand and establish market leadership, equipment manufacturers and service providers need early access to 5G test tools and capabilities,” said Kailash Narayanan, Vice President and General Manager of Wireless Devices and Operators at Keysight Technologies.

Sixty three percent of survey respondents expect higher reliability and lower latency to create the biggest impact from 5G technology deployments. These aspects are important to address new business opportunities.

Respondents indicated that the top three benefits of implementing 5G technology are faster networks (cited by 78%), greater IoT enablement (64%), and connected car proliferation (38%).

By leveraging new and existing technologies including wider bandwidths in millimetre-wave frequencies, massive MIMO and virtualised networks, 5G will deliver a multitude of benefits to meet customer demand across a wide range of vertical industries.

“The fact that many respondents are looking for test solutions means that those inventing and deploying the technology want to ensure their implementations perform as expected while securing a market leadership position,” stated Roger Nichols, 5G Program Manager at Keysight Technologies.

“Many of these technologies, or combinations of technologies, are new to the radio communications world, which is why the industry is looking for tools to help them analyse, design, measure, and validate designs that rely on these technologies.”