US businesses say 5G will help the economic recovery after Covid

Verizon mmWave IAB
(Image credit: Future)

A survey from Verizon, conducted in partnership with Morning Consult, has polled 700 business technology decision-makers across the United States, asking them about their views on 5G, with the majority - 69 percent - saying that they believed 5G would help them recover from the impact of Coronavirus.

The survey focussed on a number of areas, and was conducted to gauge interest in how 5G might be applied to sectors such as the sports, entertainment, media, government, healthcare, manufacturing, and retail.

“Over the last year, 5G has become top-of-mind for businesses as they manage through condensed digital transformation timelines,” said Tami Erwin, CEO of Verizon Business. “Today’s findings underscore the critical role 5G will play in economic recovery and growth, and we stand committed and ready to help our partners make that transition quickly and seamlessly.”

10 top facts from the Verizon Business survey

Verizon Business released these findings in its “Verizon 5G Business Report”, highlighting the impact 5G technology is expected to have across the United States. In terms of 5G use cases, 73 percent of decision-makers said they already know which 5G applications will be most beneficial to them, and seven in 10 believe that 5G technologies will help them accelerate their companies’ recovery from issues posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Below, we’ve listed our top 10 findings from the report:

  • Sixty nine percent of decision-makers believe 5G will help their company overcome the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Nearly half (48 percent) of decision-makers said their companies have already provided or are planning to provide a 5G-capable smartphone or device to employees within the next six months
  • 76% of respondents say that mobile edge computing (MEC) is important to their company
  • Decision-makers largely agree that 5G will create new opportunities for their company (80%), their industry (79%), and their role (79%)
  • Almost half (48%) of decision-makers say their company has already provided or is planning to provide a 5G-capable smartphone or device to employees within the next six months
  • In the live event space of sports, media, and entertainment, 78 percent indicated that using 5G for AR and VR experiences would be of value
  • Of those working in sports, media, and entertainment, 66 percent said that making virtual live events through AR and VR like the in-person experience was one of 5G’s most valuable applications
  • Seventy four percent of technology decision makers saw real-time video for crowd monitoring being an important 5G use case
  • More than 3 in 4 technology decision-makers in healthcare said 5G will change how their organization interacts with customers (78 percent)
  • Seventy seven percent of retail respondents indicated that businesses that do not adopt 5G technology will fall behind their peers

The poll was conducted by Morning Consult on behalf of Verizon Business between November 16th and November 18th, 2020, with results collated from the replies of 700 business technology decision makers within the United States, with the results from the survey having a margin or error of +/- four percent.

Dan Oliver

Dan is a British journalist with 20 years of experience in the design and tech sectors, producing content for the likes of Microsoft, Adobe, Dell and The Sunday Times. In 2012 he helped launch the world's number one design blog, Creative Bloq. Dan is now editor-in-chief at 5Gradar, where he oversees news, insight and reviews, providing an invaluable resource for anyone looking to stay up-to-date with the key issues facing 5G.