Will the cloud business eat the 5G telecoms industry?

SMARTPHONES ABLE to take advantage of zippy fifth-generation (5G) mobile telephony have graced American pockets since 2019. Samsung launched its first 5G-enabled device in April that year. Apple followed suit in late 2020 with its long-awaited 5G iPhone. Until now, however, actual 5G coverage in America has been limited. The country’s three biggest carriers, AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile, have offered 5G connectivity but in practice this differed little from the earlier 4G. AT&T and Verizon had to delay their large-scale roll-outs of something closer to the hype in December after the Federal Aviation Administration aired concerns that their 5G radio spectrum interferes with avionics on some ageing aircraft. On January 3rd both firms, which insist that the technology is safe (and can be turned off around airports, just in case), said they would again postpone switching on their 5G networks by two weeks.