5G Readiness is on the rise according to a recently released the 5G Readiness Survey 2017 from Ericsson. The report shows that many operators have accelerated preparations for the new technology and trials are being carried out by 78 percent of the respondents compared to 32 percent last year. Furthermore, 28 percent of the respondents expect to deploy 5G next year.

According to the survey, operators are seeing that the consumer market is becoming saturated. As a result, 5G planning this year is more evenly distributed across specialized industry segments (58 percent), business users (56 percent), and consumers (52 percent). 50 executives in business and technical areas, were interviewed in July and work for 37 operators globally that have announced publicly they are working on 5G.

The survey shows that operators have further developed their business strategies for 5G services and are now looking beyond the consumer segment and foresee opportunities in the enterprise and industrial segments as well.

The top three industry sectors that were highlighted by the respondents were media and entertainment, automotive and public transport but many also ranked healthcare as well as energy and utilities among the most attractive sectors for 5G applications. 

In terms of 5G monetization, the respondents believe that additional revenue will be generated from increased market share, migration of 4G subscribers, higher prices for new services, and by expansion into the new enterprise and industry segments.