US digital BSS vendor Matrixx spoke to a bunch of mobile users on both sides of the pond to find out how much value they place on 5G.

It turns out we’re surprisingly optimistic about what it promises and will pay good money to find out. 33% of respondents reckon it will solve their connectivity issues, with 88% of those willing to pay more for a 5G mobile service and 87% of them saying they will upgrade to it. What that remaining 1% will be paying for remains a mystery. On the flip side 70% of respondents aren’t happy with their 4G, citing coverage and speed as pain points (see charts below).

“The feedback from consumers paints a very clear picture for operators: ‘deliver a 5G experience worth the attention, and we’ll gladly pay for the privilege of using it,’” said Dave Labuda, founder, CEO, and CTO of Matrixx. “In an industry fighting to keep customers amidst consolidation and competition from digital MVNOs and OTT players, 5G presents a real opportunity to deliver a powerful value-add to the consumer.”

We spoke to Matrixx co-founder Jennifer Kyriakakis and she was most surprised by the finding that a third of punters are so upbeat about 5G. She concurred that the underlying commercial message is that there is demand for 5G services if operators git it right. We agreed that the industry needs to fight its urges to over-promise on 5G and Kyriakakis stressed that in the short term operators should simply focus on pleasing their customers. They surveyed over 4,000 mobile phone users in the UK and US.