Last updated on January 14th, 2026 at 06:18 am
By Jason Falovo
Canadian organizations are always under pressure to remain competitive in the face of today’s fast-evolving digital demands. As they examine options to support their day-to-day activities and stay ahead of the curve, one important technology is gaining traction and dominating many business discussions: 5G connectivity.
Well-known for its speed, scalability, and reliability, 5G is the infrastructure backbone for important emerging technologies that increasingly empower businesses, such as AI, IoT and automation. Recognized universally for its promise of speed, reliability, and scalability, 5G also increases the country’s ability to be competitive.
Waiting Creates a Barrier to Innovation
Despite the clear benefits, many Canadian organizations are holding back on their 5G implementations. In a survey of Canadian businesses, the perceived costs associated with deploying and maintaining 5G wireless networks were clearly an issue, with 46 per cent of those surveyed citing implementation cost as their primary barrier to adoption. Only 27 per cent identified cost as an issue just the year before. Clearly it is a barrier to 5G implementation, with IT decision-makers considering costs such as upgrading hardware, integrating new systems, training, and ongoing maintenance.
Yet today’s networks were not built for AI-driven operations, real-time automation, or the dense connectivity of industrial IoT. While organizations are concerned about the investment, business leaders agree the cost of delaying or avoiding an investment in 5G altogether could be a damaging barrier to innovation going forward.
The Impact of Unreliable Connectivity
In particular, the survey found that unreliable connectivity continues to heavily impact Canadian businesses:
• Higher operating costs: 46 per cent of those surveyed noted a direct rise in operational expenses as a result of unreliable networks. Beyond obvious impacts such as lost productivity during outages, this includes hidden costs such as ad-hoc repairs, emergency workarounds, and inefficiencies arising from disjointed connectivity.
• Operational inefficiencies: 45 per cent indicated their business processes were slowed or compromised, hampering their ability to respond to market demands, scale as needed, or to innovate.
• Increased waste: 31 per cent of respondents experienced greater levels of waste, such as unscheduled downtime on production lines and excess inventory due to lost data, ultimately resulting in environmental, financial, and reputational costs.
• Reputational damage and financial loss: 29 per cent of businesses reported a direct hit to their reputation or revenue resulting from connectivity issues, such as disruptions to customer experiences.
These costs compound. Over time, they erode margins and are very likely to exceed the cost of implementing and maintaining a 5G implementation. Plus, if they choose not to invest in 5G, organizations risk becoming less competitive, falling behind industry peers who are taking advantage of reliable, high-performance networks to accelerate innovation, increase resilience and improve operational efficiencies.
Overcoming What’s Really Holding Organizations Back
While the study found cost to be the leading barrier to 5G adoption, it was not the only one.
Thirty-six per cent of businesses surveyed also noted a lack of internal skills as a key challenge, while 36 per cent cited hardware complexity as an obstacle. Integration issues, such as combining new 5G capabilities with existing systems, add another layer of complexity. Thirty-six percent cited security concerns, thinking that connected devices may add another layer of cyber risks.
However, barriers like these can be overcome.
For example, managed 5G wide area network (WAN) solutions enable organizations that are lacking internal expertise to ramp up quickly. Automation handles services like configuration and update automation, helping to decrease administrative burdens, and reduce the cost and complexity of deployment. For many, the strategic alternative is not ‘build or bust’, but rather leverage partnerships to achieve results.
On the security side, concerns are often based on outdated assumptions. While 5G can lead to a larger attack surface, 5G networks are inherently more secure across the entire network lifecycle, including end-to-end encryption, robust authentication, and secure software development practices to protect against the threat of attacks. Some solutions leverage advanced AI and machine learning to monitor network traffic in real-time, providing a high level ofproactive threat detection and rapid incident response.
The Bigger 5G Opportunity
A critical finding of the report: Only 29 per cent of organizations believe they will have the network infrastructure needed to drive performance and growth over the next year, and only 31 per cent indicated they are poised to unlock the full promise of AI and automation.
But in fact, nearly 90 per cent of those surveyed believe more secure, reliable and high-performing networks such as 5G will help position Canada as a world-class industrial and technology leader. They also believe 5G connectivity will play an important role in advancing the competitiveness of businesses across the country, noting it will improve bandwidth (46 per cent); be a key enabler for the development of IoT, AI and other technological applications (44 per cent); improve security (42 per cent); and offer expansion opportunities for businesses (4 per cent).
The paradox is striking. Businesses clearly believe in the value of 5G, yet many delay investment because they treat it as a discretionary upgrade rather than a strategic pillar of digital competitiveness. As a platform for innovation, resilience, and future growth, 5G is more than just a technology upgrade, and inaction could potentially lead to financial loss — along with damaging the reputation and viability of an organization in our increasingly digital world.
An Investment in Competitiveness
The misconception that 5G is “too expensive” fails to account for the far greater financial risks of maintaining an inadequate network infrastructure. Every outage, every delay, every inefficiency — these are real, measurable losses. 5G, by contrast, enables businesses to scale automation, streamline operations, and deliver reliable experiences.
With that in mind, it is clear the question is not if businesses can afford to invest in 5G, but rather whether they can afford not to.
Jason Falovo is Vice President and General Manager, Canada at Ericsson Enterprise Wireless Solutions.
