The impact of the growth of fifth-generation (5G) telecommunications infrastructure and new and existing applications will add an estimated $1.3-trillion to global gross domestic product by 2030, with health and social set to add $530-billion from productivity and efficiency gains, advisory multinational PwC said on February 8.

"More than a faster version of mobile connectivity, 5G's speed, reliability, reduced energy use and massive connectivity will be transformative for businesses and wider society, enabling ubiquitous access to super fast broadband. Used in combination with investments in artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT), 5G can be used as a platform to enable business and society to realise the full benefits of emerging technology advances," said PwC China global technology, media and telecommunications industry leader Wilson Chow.

PwC quantified the economic impact of new and existing uses of 5G in utilities, health and social care, consumer, media, and financial services across eight economies with advanced roll-out, namely Australia, China, Germany, India, Japan, South Korea, the US and the UK.

"Economic gains are projected across all economies assessed in the study, as 5G offers the potential to rethink business models, skills, products and services, with the gains accelerating, beginning in 2025, as 5G-enabled applications become more widespread," he said.

Based on the study, the US will add $484-billion, China $220-billion and Japan $76-billion to their economies by 2030 and will experience the largest uplift as a result of 5G technology applications, owing to the size of their economies and strong modern industrial production sectors.

At a regional level, Europe, Middle East & Africa is expected to benefit the most from manufacturing applications of 5G, owing to the size of the manufacturing sectors, and demonstrates the potential for regional competitive advantage through approaches to the adoption and regulation of the technology.

"These numbers quantify impact, but, perhaps more importantly, our study reflects the value of 5G; new levels of connectivity and collaboration mean companies will be able to see, do and achieve more. It will open up new opportunities for growth and change as organisations rethink and reconfigure the way they operate in the post-pandemic world," said Chow.

"With the pandemic accelerating digitalisation across all sectors, 5G will act as a further catalyst. It will emerge in this decade as a fundamental piece of our societal infrastructure and as a platform for driving the competitiveness of national economies, new business models, skills and industries."

Further, just less than half the global economic impact will be driven by the transformation of health and social care experience for patients, providers and medical staff within the next ten years and will help to achieve better, faster outcomes in health and social care.

While the acceleration of telemedicine during the Covid-19 pandemic provides a glimpse of the future of healthcare, remote care is just one area in which 5G can enable both better health outcomes and cost savings. 5G's applications include remote monitoring and consultations, real time in-hospital data sharing, improved doctor-patient communications and automation in hospitals to reduce health care costs.