5G has reached significant commercial and technical milestones. However, so far, its focus remains primarily on Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) and fixed wireless applications. As per the IMT-2020 vision, 5G should be oriented toward a variety of new applications and business prospects, going beyond just mobile broadband. It is noteworthy that the enterprise sector has not fully tapped into the existing 5G offerings, and mobile operators find it challenging to introduce innovative use cases for consumers, aside from offering faster data speeds.

This paper from InterDigital and ABI Research highlights the major accomplishments of 5G to date, shedding light on why this latest network generation has not yet realized its potential in unlocking new business avenues, which were inaccessible to its predecessors in both the consumer and enterprise sectors. It elaborates how 5G-Advanced, the next phase in the journey of this generation, is building the foundation for enterprise applications and potentially leaving the field open for 6G to drive the Industry 4.0 revolution. The paper also includes an overview of ABI Research’s insights into 5G-Advanced capabilities, market potential, and the fresh business paradigms it could unveil in both consumer and business domains.