Long-term forecasts suggest that 5G will make quite a splash when it explodes onto the scene in 2020, with Juniper Research predicting that service revenues will exceed $65 billion by 2025.
If accurate, the report indicates that within the first five years of commercial availability 5G will account for 7% of all operator-billed service revenues, the research firm said.
But while the first commercial 5G rollouts are expected in 2020, widespread adoption is not expected to occur until the 2025 forecast date.
In the first year of commercial operation total 5G service revenues are expected to be limited to a mere $100 million.
Juniper Research meanwhile predicts that at least $25 billion will be poured into 5G R&D and trials over the next five years.
The enhanced capabilities of 5G are expected to serve as a catalyst for the development and adoption of a range of new services, including 4K-8K video streaming, self-driving cars and advanced virtual reality.
But report author Nitin Bhas noted that operators will need to carefully plan their service deployments to achieve an adequate ROI from their network and license investments.
“These discrete segments or services will require transparent and competitive pricing based on data usage, device type, and speeds; this means that profit margins will vary with regards to the sector enabled,” he said.