5G and economic growth: an assessment of GDP impacts in Canada

The mobile industry has begun the journey to upgrade its infrastructure and services to 5G, the next generation of digital technologies. 5G networks will deliver between 10 and 100× faster data rates, at signal response times up to 10× smaller, compared to 4G networks. These capabilities will in turn enable a range of other technologies (such as big data and cloud services) that will realise new and transformative applications and use cases.

Canada is now entering the 5G era, even if the Covid-19 pandemic will slow adoption rates in the short term. In this report, we evaluate Canada’s readiness for 5G, assess the expected macroeconomic impacts from the introduction of the technology, and identify key barriers for the rollout of 5G in Canada to reach its full potential and drive future economic growth.