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

Abstract

Purpose

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.

Design/methodology/approach

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

Findings

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.

Originality/value

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.

Citation

Forge, S. and Blackman, C. (2017), "Europe’s 5G field of dreams: if we build it, will they come?", Digital Policy, Regulation and Governance, Vol. 19 No. 5, pp. 337-352. https://doi.org/10.1108/DPRG-06-2017-0030