Gear Makers Will Be Big Early Winners Amid 5G 'Hype,' Wells Fargo Says

Hype about 5G was high at the Mobile World Congress, but reality will be “tougher,” Wells Fargo’s Jennifer Fritzsche wrote investors Thursday. “Hype of 5G seems to be reaching a point of too much euphoria,” she wrote. Carriers likely won’t see revenue growth until 2020-21, the analyst said: “Early 5G winners will be the ‘arms dealers’ which supply the infrastructure. There seems to be particular focus on the Edge infrastructure theme with mobile edge computing capabilities.” Sprint said it will deploy 5G in four markets by May and nine cities the first half of the year, offering “very specific” coverage maps with more detail than any other carrier, Fritzsche said. T-Mobile indicated more interest in the high-band spectrum for 5G than it showed in the past, she said.