Four out of 10 Belgian smartphone users would like 5G to be available in the country within a year, according to Ericsson’s ConsumerLab report, released on Tuesday.
The existing network does not appear to satisfy customers’ expectations since the same proportion said they were not satisfied with the current flow of mobile broadband.
Consumers also said they were prepared to pay more for this technology, which could increase monthly data consumption to 35 GB, 14 to 16 times more than today, by 2025.
The Swedish telecoms giant conducted its study among 35,000 Smartphone users in 22 countries, including 2,000 in Belgium, and representing five million consumers.
Results show that 5G should be a differentiator for Belgium’s operators. A quarter of respondents in the country would change their service provider within six months if it failed to offer them this technology. However, its deployment will have to wait until Belgium’s federal and regional governments manage to reach agreement on the issue, which is unlikely before 2020 or probably 2021.
In the meantime, four out of every 10 users in Belgium would like 5G to be available within a year since they are anything but satisfied with the current speed of 3G or 4G.
Similarly, four out of 10 are willing to buy a compatible smartphone once it’s available on the market.
Close to half of the respondents expect prices to be 1.5 times higher than those of 4G devices, and one in two Belgian early adopters are willing to pay 12 euros more for the 5G service.
Ther Brussels Times
