5G networks did not bring the promised technological revolution, but they did benefit ordinary users

A striking example was the operator Verizon, which paid $45.5 billion for 5G bands at a radio frequency auction—almost twice as much as its competitor AT&T. During Verizon’s latest earnings call, investors asked the company’s CEO directly when he expected to see a return on this colossal investment. Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg answered this question by juggling phrases like “the right offers for our clients” and “creating net profit for us”mentioned “price adjustment” and some “new value” for clients, but in essence all these words meant nothing.

Verizon’s financial report mostly gives an indirect idea of ​​​​the development of 5G for the operator: in reality, there is no talk of robotic surgery and self-driving cars – the deployment of many such projects requires autonomous networks, the creation of which continues. The very fact of switching to the 5G standard does not yet indicate new achievements: millimeter-wave networks offer high speeds, but have a limited range, and low-frequency networks are sometimes slower than 4G. Another operator strategy is to organize private networks for enterprises, but selling them requires sales representatives with a good knowledge of the specifics of each industry. And not every manufacturer needs such a network. Theoretically, 5G has potential in the automotive industry, but in practice, many factories were built a long time ago and are difficult to modernize.

In the consumer segment, the changes were more noticeable. T-Mobile and Verizon have begun aggressively connecting households with 5G as an alternative to traditional fixed-line cable access. The possibilities of mobile communications have expanded – for example, fans of singer Taylor Swift in the Texas city of Arlington once generated 29 TB of traffic from the AT&T operator in one day, and 5G has proven in practice that its throughput is higher than that of LTE. AT&T spokesman Jim Greer noted that the volume of traffic on the operator’s network is growing by 30% annually – subscribers are pleased to be able to stream video from a crowded stadium without waiting to return home, where there is Wi-Fi.

Counterpoint Research director Jeff Fieldhack also points to the potential of network slicing, where operators prioritize certain types of traffic. This makes sense when dealing with safety-critical applications: priority should be given to the car passing through the intersection, not to the YouTuber sitting in the back seat. Now operators do not differentiate between clients. This requires standalone 5G networks – only T-Mobile has succeeded in this among American operators. As a result, the same Verizon was faced with the fact that investments in 5G did not bring additional profits: interest rates are high in the United States, and smartphone sales are falling. And the company can only boast that in 2023 it carried out “pricing events worth more than $1 billion”maintaining low customer churn.