UK firms see 5G tech as a tool to help battle the effects brought by the Covid-19 pandemic and related global events, according to research from EY.

The study revealed that 5G leads all other emerging technologies in terms of future spending intentions, with more than half (56%) of UK businesses planning to invest in it within the next three years.

Despite this, enterprises were found to lack confidence that they will be able to implement and deploy 5G. Only around 18% said they were very confident – a 4% drop year-on-year.

These numbers fared worse after data revealed poor understanding of 5G’s relationship to other emerging technologies, with 43% of respondents saying this was the biggest internal challenge to 5G perceptions.

Despite some positive views of 5G tech adoption, many firms appear to be taking a defensive approach, looking to bolster resilience, respond to stakeholder demands and meet corporate priorities.

A range of external factors were underpinning this defensive approach to 5G, EY found. Four-fifths of respondents said the impact of the global health crisis had driven their interest in 5G tech, up from 62% in last year’s study.

Additionally, more than three quarters (79%) said current supply chain disruption has galvanised their 5G pursuit, while 68% cited the focus on environmental, social and governance issues.

Commenting on the research, Praveen Shankar, UK and Ireland technology, media and telecoms leader at EY, said: “Sophisticated use cases will become important in time. More pressing, however, is the need for 5G providers to adapt their solutions to the practical demands of Industry 4.0 today.

“Disruptive customer signals suggest that telcos’ traditional relationships with enterprise customers are under pressure and more agile go-to-market strategies are essential in a 5G-IoT world.

“Telcos should take steps now to ensure that they can meet enterprise demand for private network deployments.”

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Companies will need to start taking adoption of 5G seriously in the future, in line with the UK Government’s plans for future rollout.

In early December 2021, the Government announced plans to phase-out Britain’s 2G and 3G mobile networks by the end of 2033 aiming to help bring in new telecoms suppliers and build the UK’s 5G networks.

The measures look to increase the security of telecoms supply chains as well as supporting a “smooth transition” to faster mobile networks such as 5G.

Plans will free up spectrum – the radio waves used for sending and receiving information – to allow for the mass rollout of 5G and other future networks such as 6G, the UK Government said.

Adrian Baschnonga, global telecommunications lead analyst at EY, added: “There are still fundamental anxieties around how 5G works alongside other emerging technologies. 5G providers should take this on board and adapt their customer discussions accordingly.

“By educating enterprises on how 5G can be harnessed by other emerging technologies, service providers can boost enterprise confidence in their 5G deployments.”

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