Business outlook for 5G in 2019 is optimistic

AMTA was pleased to finish 2018 with a members forum, hosted by Nokia in North Sydney, where we heard from the Deloitte Access Economics team, John O’Mahony and Jessica Mizrahi, as well as Peter Corbett from Deloitte Digital who presented findings from the Australian Cut of the Deloitte Mobile Consumer Survey 2018.

Peter Corbett noted that the continued adoption of unlimited plans and soon, new network capabilities like 5G are likely to make us more attached to our devices than ever before. However, he believes that we are far from peak smartphone usage, as demonstrated by comparisons to Asian consumer trends.

Peter said that the survey results show that in 2018, buying a smartphone is one of the most important purchases an Australian consumer will make. And while price is always an important consideration for consumers, it is about more than price with consumers carefully considering the device and services ecosystem that they are buying into.

With 5G network technology expected to roll-out from late 2019, the Deloitte survey found that 39% of Australians surveyed indicated they would proactively switch to 5G network as soon as it was available or upon hearing good things which is higher than other geographies like the US and UK.

The most immediate commercialisation pathways for 5G appear to be in the home through fixed wireless products however the survey found that only 22% of Australians regard their network as good enough during their commute.

The survey also found that while 90% of businesses expect to use 5G in the next two years and believe that it will help them to work more flexibly and engage better with customers, the barriers to take up of 5G relate to concerns about expense, usefulness and security/privacy.