Gartner Survey Casts Doubt on Business 5G Preparedness for 2020

Two-thirds of organizations plan to deploy 5G by 2020, and some will need 5G more quickly than many communications service providers can deliver it, a Gartner survey found. In the “short to medium term,” organizations wanting to “leverage” 5G for various uses won’t be able to “fully rely on 5G public infrastructure for delivery,” it said Tuesday. Of 185 organizations, IoT communications “remains the most popular target use case” for 5G, with 59 percent expecting 5G-capable networks to be widely used for that. The next most popular use case is video, chosen by 53 percent. For IoT communications, 5G “is uniquely positioned to deliver a high density of connected endpoints -- up to 1 million sensors per square kilometer,” said Gartner.