The early days of 2020 were still heady times for 5G. Rarely had the world so enthusiastically awaited the arrival of a communications technology often described as “disruptive,” “transformational,” and a “general purpose technology.” As its early versions emerged—with much more expected to come over the next 10-15 years—pundits were espousing the ways 5G will change or materially influence almost every aspect of human activity.

Global priorities underwent an unexpected reset starting in February 2020, as the SARS-CoV-2 virus (the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019—COVID-19) began rapidly cascading from country to country. The world has witnessed catastrophic losses of lives and rates of infection—as of the writing of this report (November 2020), almost 1.3 million deaths from just under 53.0 million infections globally.