February 9, 2021 | less than a minute read

CTIA Study Shows Massive Financial Benefits From 5G Deployment

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T. Scott Thompson

Member/ Chair, Communications Infrastructure Litigation

Get in touch

T. Scott Thompson

Member/ Chair, Communications Infrastructure Litigation

This is an important study on the benefits to the Country of 5G deployment. There is a lot of information in the study, but it's clear to me that the Pandemic has also added to the importance of 5G and beyond. The Pandemic has thrust us all forward 10+ years in terms of remote interaction.

How we live, work, play, and interact has undergone a meaningful change that I cannot see going back.

But as the study notes, local impediments can have multi-billion dollar impacts for the country and real impacts on local users. The FCC has taken important steps in the past few years to clarify the role of local governments. But providers still encounter far too many unlawful delays and impediments that threaten the economic benefits found in this study.

To bring these benefits to fruition, state, local, and federal governments must work to keep 5G’s rollout on track. Delays in network infrastructure build-out or in making more licensed spectrum available would carry significant opportunity costs, according to BCG’s analysis. At a national level, every six-month delay in 5G network deployment could, on average, mean missing out on $25 billion of the potential 5G benefits from 2020 through 2030.