Productivity and efficiency gains enabled by 5G will drive business, skills and service change worth US$1.3 trillion to global GDP by 2030. And over half the global economic impact (US$530bn) will be due to the transformation of health and social care within the next ten years and a quarter by smart utilities driving savings in energy, water and waste management.
That’s the conclusion of PWC, whose new report Powering Your Tomorrow, quantifies the economic impact of new and existing uses of 5G in utilities, health and social care, consumer, media, and financial services. It focuses on eight economies with advanced rollout of the technology namely: Australia, China, Germany, India, Japan, South Korea, USA and the United Kingdom (UK).
The report in particular highlight how 5G will work with other technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and the internet of things (IoT).
The acceleration of telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic, say the report’s authors, delivered a glimpse of the future of healthcare. Remote care is just one area in which 5G can enable both better health outcomes and cost savings. Other 5G-based healthcare applications include remote monitoring and consultations, real time in-hospital data sharing, improved doctor-patient communications and automation in hospitals to reduce health care costs.
More generally economic gains will be achieved as 5G offers the potential to rethink business models, skills, products and services, with the gains accelerating beginning in 2025 as 5G-enabled applications become more widespread
The USA (US$484bn), China (US$220bn) and Japan (US$76bn) will experience the largest uplift as a result of 5G technology applications, while Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) are expected to benefit the most from manufacturing applications of 5G.
Wilson Chow, Global Technology, Media and Telecommunications Industry Leader, PwC China, comments:
“These numbers quantify impact, but perhaps more important, our study reflects the value of 5G – new levels of connectivity and collaboration mean companies will be able to see, do and achieve more. It will open up new opportunities for growth and change as organisations rethink and reconfigure the way they operate in the post-pandemic world.
“With the pandemic accelerating digitalisation across all sectors, 5G will act as a further catalyst. It will emerge in this decade as a fundamental piece of our societal infrastructure and as a platform for driving the competitiveness of national economies, new business models, skills and industries.”
Other industries analysed in the study include
- SMART utilities management applications will support environmental targets to reduce carbon and waste through enabling combined smart meters and grids to deliver energy savings, and improving waste and water management through tracking of waste and water leakage (US$330bn).
- Consumer and media applications include: over the top (OTT) gaming, real time advertising and customer services (US$254bn)
- Manufacturing and heavy industry applications include: monitoring and reducing defects, increased autonomous vehicle use (US$134bn)
- Financial services applications including reducing fraud and improving customer experiences (US$86bn)
