The digital association Bitkom has conducted a survey on 5G among more than 500 industrial companies in Germany. The result: half of companies with 50 or more employees in Germany state that the future availability of 5G is important to them. For large corporations with 2,000 employees or more, the figure is as high as two thirds (66%). However, only two in five industrial companies (42%) are currently planning or discussing 5G coverage, of which a good third (36%) are planning 5G coverage by a network operator. Only 6% are looking at 5G via locally usable frequencies.

"5G is a key technology for Germany as an industrial location," says Bitkom President Achim Berg. "German industry will get a huge boost with 5G." It is therefore all the more surprising that 5G coverage is not yet an issue for 55% of industrial companies. "The Federal Network Agency has reserved frequency ranges for local 5G use. If hardly any companies want to make use of them, these frequency blocks will lie unused. If you don't deal with 5G now, you risk losing tomorrow's business."

5G for networked production

In general, the industry has a very positive attitude towards the mobile communications standard of the future. More than eight out of ten (84%) agree with the statement that 5G will massively boost the productivity of German companies, and 70% see 5G as one of the most important technologies of the future.

Those who are already working on 5G have various application scenarios in mind. More than half of the companies that are planning or discussing the use of 5G (54%) want to use 5G for networked production. One in two of these companies (50%) are planning assistance systems such as augmented reality and virtual reality, while just as many (49%) want to enable real-time communication between machines via 5G. Two in five (39%) envisage 5G for autonomous vehicles and transportation systems. Almost one in three companies (31%) that are looking at 5G want to use mobile robots. Companies for which 5G is not currently an issue primarily want to use other technologies. This is stated by 70%, 69% plan to use WLAN instead of 5G. More than half of the companies that reject 5G (57%) do not see any added value in the new mobile communications standard, while a third (32%) have no budget for it.

Germany only mid-table internationally

The industry's assessment of Germany as a location for the planned 5G expansion is mixed. Only 2% of industrial companies see Germany in the top group in a global comparison, while a good third (36%) place Germany in the midfield. Bitkom believes that as much private sector involvement as possible must be generated for a rapid 5G rollout in Germany. Berg: "Every euro spent in spectrum auctions is subsequently wasted on network expansion. Politicians should agree a forward-looking and Europe-wide coordinated spectrum strategy with the network operators." Greater legal and planning certainty in the future direction of spectrum regulation is essential. "Once spectrum has been auctioned, it must be usable for at least 20 years. This is the only way to improve investment conditions for network operators. Instead of re-auctioning frequencies after a few years, we must also enable the extension of usage rights," says Berg.