5G investment up as enterprises look to integrate AI
Elsewhere, 5G is seeing a rise in investment year-on-year, up six percentage points to 79%. American enterprises continue to lead other regions on 5G investment, with 82% either currently investing or planning to invest. But other regions are gaining ground, with 79% of European enterprises and 78% of Asian enterprises either currently investing or planning to invest – both up more than 10 percentage points year-on-year in current investment. This reflects the recent advent of 5G standalone technology in these regions.
Overall, organizations surveyed rate cyber and data protection risks as the biggest current 5G challenge outside their control, reflecting the ongoing rise in cyber attacks on internet of things (IoT) devices.
Looking ahead, enterprises rank exploring 5G’s relationship to AI and other emerging technologies as their top future priority for 5G adoption (42%). However, the report highlights ongoing challenges around enterprises’ ambitions to combine technologies, with 60% stating that vendors do not adequately articulate how 5G and IoT can be integrated with AI.