Annual 5G service revenue will reach US$247 billion worldwide in 2025, predicted ABI Research on Tuesday.
The research firm said that it expects 5G network deployment to ramp up after 2020, when the industry finalises the technicalities of using millimetre-wave (mmWave) spectrum for ultrafast mobile services.
North America, Asia-Pacific, and Western Europe will be the three biggest 5G regions by 2025, ABI Research said.
"The 5G network of tomorrow will, over time, evolve to embrace cellular, WiFi and wired connectivity, in addition to millimetre wave," said Joe Hoffman, managing director and vice president at ABI Research, in a statement. "It will be better, cheaper, greener, and incredibly high-speed wireless data access for the mass market that will cause business innovation to explode."
However, there are still several big challenges to overcome before the benefits of 5G can be realised, the biggest of which is figuring out exactly what 5G is.
As well as technology standards, other hurdles include spectrum fragmentation, availability of devices, capital-and-operating expenditure, and the development of use cases.
"At the early stage of deployment, the leading 5G use case is enhanced mobile broadband, closely followed by critical and massive machine-type communications," ABI Research predicted.
Once these challenges have been addressed, "5G will be a fast-growing cellular technology, most probably faster than preceding generations including 4G," Hoffman declared.