Enterprises overwhelmingly view 5G because the spine for future competitiveness, in line with a brand new Ericsson report
The U.S. enterprise sector is putting unprecedented significance on connectivity as companies navigate financial uncertainty, expertise shortages, and rising expectations for digital transformation. In response to The State of Enterprise Connectivity – United States 2025 report, enterprises overwhelmingly view 5G because the spine for future competitiveness, with AI, automation, and IoT driving pressing new connectivity necessities.
5G as a strategic crucial
The report finds that 93% of enterprises consider safe, high-performing networks like 5G are important for the US to keep up world know-how management, whereas 92% say next-generation connectivity is vital to unlocking enterprise innovation. Enterprises are significantly targeted on how 5G can help bandwidth-intensive and latency-sensitive purposes resembling AI-driven analytics, automated processes, and linked gadgets.
This urgency displays rising frustration with U.S. spectrum coverage. Almost 80% of respondents stated delays in spectrum auctions have hindered 5G rollouts and slowed innovation, underscoring the idea that regulatory readability is as important to competitiveness because the know-how itself.
Respondents’ considerations over spectrum entry are tied to the truth that the Federal Communications Fee (FCC) now not has the authority to carry new 5G spectrum auctions. Till 2023, the FCC managed auctions that shifted allocation choices away from authorities management and offered licensed spectrum to the best bidders, giving main 5G operators a transparent path to safe airwaves. However that authority lapsed in March 2023
The report said: “Now, because the world races to leverage data-intensive know-how like AI, legislators are calling for the FCC to regain that public sale authority. This is able to enable 5G operators to seize
the spectrum and make it accessible to these most ready to push innovation all through
the nation. The choice, per legislators, is a nation that might lag behind the remainder of the world in 5G deployments.”
5G and AI: A symbiotic relationship
Enterprises more and more view 5G and AI as inseparable. The report notes that 88% of U.S. companies contemplate 5G vital to optimizing AI within the office, whereas 90% say AI already improves community safety by robotically detecting and remediating points.
AI can also be serving to to offset persistent workforce shortages. Almost 9 in ten enterprises say AI is upskilling community administration employees by automating evaluation and decreasing handbook duties. This interaction highlights a virtuous cycle: 5G allows the high-speed knowledge switch that AI instruments require, whereas AI enhances the efficiency and safety of these very networks.
IoT deployment features momentum
Ericsson’s analysis exhibits that IoT adoption is accelerating, with 58% of enterprises already deploying IoT options and one other 34% planning new investments. Main use instances embrace safety programs (54%), video surveillance (41%), GPS and route administration (38%), fleet administration (37%), and predictive upkeep (35%).
These investments minimize throughout sectors: retail corporations are utilizing IoT to scale back losses, logistics suppliers are bettering supply effectivity, and producers are leveraging predictive upkeep to keep away from pricey manufacturing delays. However these advantages are contingent on dependable, real-time connectivity — reinforcing the dependence on 5G.
“The advantages of 5G mobile tie virtually immediately into an organization’s backside line. If any of those gadgets can now not share knowledge in actual time, they’ll create vital obstacles to carrying out the best of enterprise targets,” said the report.
Obstacles gradual broader adoption
Regardless of enthusiasm, enterprises nonetheless face critical hurdles. 52% cite deployment and upkeep prices as the principle barrier, whereas 46% level to {hardware} improve complexity and 41% to infrastructure limitations. Maybe most telling, 21% of companies say the return on funding for 5G remains to be unclear, reflecting an ongoing have to translate technical promise into enterprise worth.
The price of unreliable networks is stark: 95% of enterprise leaders report that poor connectivity raises operational prices or inefficiencies, whereas 30% say it damages repute, and 26% hyperlink it on to misplaced income.
Making ready for an AI-native future
Trying forward, the report factors to the rise of “agentic AI” — autonomous programs able to resolving points with out human intervention. Gartner tasks that by 2029, agentic AI will resolve 80% of customer support points independently. “This means the enterprise
will current a good higher dependence on AI know-how and, consequently, a higher
dependence on enough community connectivity,” stated Ericsson.
On the identical time, the deployment of 5G standalone networks and the arrival of community slicing promise to present enterprises devoted bandwidth for particular features, providing the efficiency ensures of wired programs with out the fee and inflexibility.
Conclusion
The 2025 report underscores a vital inflection level. Enterprises acknowledge that 5G just isn’t merely a quicker community — it’s the basis for AI, IoT, and automation that may form future competitiveness. But challenges round value, complexity, and spectrum coverage threaten to gradual momentum.
