TMT enterprises must build a 5G roadmap to grasp the industry’s emerging narrative

• All providers we profiled in our recent Telecom, Media, and Technology (TMT) Service Providers Top 10 2021 report presented a strong narrative around 5G, and claim to be investing and deploying solutions
• 5G is currently deployed in 8% of all these providers’ approximately 50,000 TMT engagements
• Of what’s considered to be the addressable market for 5G services (let’s estimate 50% from the breakdowns in our Top 10 report, with the other 50% being maintenance, support, and legacy services)—5G services would become active in 16% of engagements, which indicates that it is seeing impactful uptake at this early stage (see our more detailed take on this)—especially given the volume of TMT engagements throughout what is a massive, expanding, and converging industry—and in enterprises feedback we’re seeing 5G used “in production”.
• Soon, we can also expect that 5G won’t be a separate initiative, but will be built into many large scale deployments for network upgrades and extensions, as well as the end-user technology—in combination with IoT, edge, analytics, AI, and all manner of other technologies referenced in the linked-to POV piece above.

The Bottom Line: 5G is no longer about getting ahead of the curve—but there’s still an opportunity to be a trailblazer while much of the industry catches up. 5G and associated technology roadmaps will be key in identifying use cases and value potential early in the journey—as will partnerships throughout your ecosystem: that means startups, providers, enterprises of all sizes, and even policymakers and regulators. 5G is proliferating throughout different industries, and ecosystems are coming together to accelerate its development and deployment.