Six consequences of the Huawei ruling
Oliver Dowden’s statement this week has sent waves across the world. Setting aside the reasons for the decision (for which there are experts far better equipped than me to comment) there will be specific consequences for the mobile market and 5G in particular. Consumer customer growth will slow further We’ve seen Covid-19 effect major launches so 5G handset supply was always going to be tricky this year, but this is quite a spanner in the works for any operator with desires to grow their 5G base in 2020. It’s not helped by the fact that 5G is quite a niche proposition for consumers and that’s even for the really early adopters. We’re talking about the 'Tech trailblazers’ (30% of the market) wanting 5G to begin with. That said, it’s not an insignificant number so the operators will have planned to attract them early to help showcase the possibilities, and get the revenue in the door. Their initial growth strategy will be pinned on business applications (see final point below) and these Trailblazers. But like 3G and 4G, 5G will go mainstream as more handsets become available and, in particular, once Apple is able to supply a decent quantity of 5G...
