Europe’s 5G field of dreams: if we build it, will they come?

Proponents of 5G predict a huge market for 5G goods and services with millions of new jobs being created. The purpose of this paper is to make a realistic assessment of the 5G initiative, with a focus on Europe.

The paper reviews the technical, economic and policy literature to analyse the case for 5G in Europe.

The 5G initiative in Europe, as well as globally, has so far failed to assess objectively the future needs of its customers, whether consumer or business, to articulate a set of sound business cases.

There is little independent assessment of 5G in the academic literature. The paper makes an original contribution through questioning the dominant supply-driven industry perspective.