Shock Ericsson report concludes 5G is great

5G kit vendor Ericsson has released a report implying it’s a really good idea to buy loads of the stuff it sells.

The report was written by its ConsumerLab and is titled: ‘5G consumer potential – busing the myths around the value of 5G for consumers’. Insisting it’s ‘backed by solid research’, the report seeks to confront the following claimed industry myths:

Here’s a summary of the myth-busting:

“Through our research, we have busted four myths about consumers’ views on 5G and answered questions such as whether 5G features will require new types of devices, or whether smartphones will be the silver bullet for 5G,” said Jasmeet Singh Sethi, Head of ConsumerLab, Ericsson Research. “Consumers clearly state that they think smartphones are unlikely to be the sole solution for 5G.”

Here are some charts from the report. The first shows the main consumer expectations of 5G, with new services second only to improved performance. The second shows the kinds of new services consumers are most interested in and the third illustrates their willingness to pay for them, with half of all consumers happy to shell out a 20% premium for 5G.

While of course companies don’t tend to publish reports that don’t support their commercial objectives, that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with the underlying research. Ericsson is clearly trying to reassure operators that their 5G investments will yield good returns, but that seems to largely rely on those operators coming up with exciting new services, which they have historically struggled to do.