The Impact of COVID-19 on Global 5G Deployments

The magnitude of the impact of COVID-19 has been severe for major sectors including aviation, automotive, tourism, real estate, oil and gas, education, and manufacturing. The telecom industry, though, has been resilient during the crisis with the industry’s flexible digital core pressed into action as an immediate alternative. The industry has reinforced its infrastructural backbone for enabling business communication, and building data and transactional networks of the future. While the LTE networks are currently ensuring smooth communication even with the spike in traffic demand, the telecom companies are now vouching for the fifth-generation network.

The much-awaited launch of 5G, including the use of innovative new radio and millimeter-wave technologies, is seeing a temporary deceleration in many parts of the globe. This delay in 5G commercialization is inherently linked to the collective lag in regulatory timelines, spectrum issuance and auctioning, and technological developments. The coronavirus’ near-term impact on these stages of 5G commercialization point towards an unforeseen downshift of the initial action stages. However, it also presents an untapped opportunity for the recalibration of the 5G market and its applications such as 5G connected robots for supporting medical professionals.
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