From speed to strategy: 5G as the catalyst for the intelligent economy

Picture this: a manufacturing plant suddenly silenced by a single network outage.

For hours, the production line stands frozen, costing the company millions and shaking management's confidence in its digital transformation agenda. Workers couldn't access dashboards, automated processes stalled and AI-driven quality checks went dark.

That experience reflects a broader reality facing private and public-sector leaders today. Geopolitical instability, climate-driven disruption and fragile supply chains are reshaping industries while expectations to innovate faster, increase productivity and improve sustainability continue to rise, often amid growing cyber risk. In this environment, every organization is under pressure to perform flawlessly amid volatility.

The factory outage example makes one truth impossible to ignore: in a world defined by constant disruption, connectivity is no longer a luxury or IT afterthought. It is the backbone of modern operations and determines whether automation works, whether real-time AI delivers insights and whether resilience is more than a buzzword. Without reliable, secure and scalable connectivity, even the most ambitious digital investments can collapse instantly.

AI adoption is accelerating, yet many enterprises still struggle to scale beyond pilots. The core challenge is clear: a persistent gap between digital intelligence and physical operations. Agentic AI – systems that can perceive, decide and act autonomously – can only deliver real-time outcomes when it has continuous access to high-quality data and consistent, always-on connectivity especially in environments where milliseconds define success. With consistently responsive networks and edge resources, enterprises can scale multiple agentic AI systems simultaneously without bottlenecks or interruptions.

Sunswift Racing, an Australian university team that builds and competes with ultra-efficient solar-electric race cars, shows how this technology works in the real world. With Ericsson’s combined wireless wide-area networks (WWAN) routers and Intelligent Link Bonding, the team stays connected, even while moving at high speeds through remote areas. This means its engineers receive constant, real-time data, video and communications, allowing faster decisions and smoother operations, exactly what is needed in a high-stakes setting.

During a race, the Sunswift car uses 60 sensors that together can produce more than three million data points in a single day. It's a clear example of how reliable connectivity can keep critical work running without interruption.

This same principle applies across industries. AI-ready connectivity — powered by private, seamless, always-on networks — and accelerated by edge computing, creates a unified environment where agentic AI can operate locally, instantly and reliably. With consistent, real-time access to the physical world, enterprises can finally move from experimentation to meaningful impact in productivity, sustainability and worker safety.

For decades, the promise of Industry 4.0 has been constrained by rigid wired systems and fragmented networks, limiting industrial operations' ability to respond in real time. Emerging enterprise connectivity architectures are now enabling a more agile and resilient approach to meet evolving operational demands.

Ericsson’s private 5G deployment at Airbus’s Hamburg and Toulouse plants shows similar impact at industrial scale. Infrastructure automation delivers fast, site-wide connectivity that now supports advanced applications like 3D simulation, augmented reality for workers, part traceability and predictive maintenance.

Private networks provide the strong, predictable wireless connection needed for automated and time-sensitive operations. Always-on connectivity brings that reliability to remote sites and moving assets, helping organizations keep track of people, equipment and production end-to-end. Together, these technologies enable a new industrial execution model:

Furthermore, programmable network APIs are opening a new frontier, allowing developers and operational teams to customize connectivity for specific needs: high reliability for autonomous systems, prioritized capacity for safety-critical operations or location optimization for field deployments.

The result is an industrial ecosystem that is more efficient and fundamentally more resilient and capable of meeting the demands of a rapidly changing world.

As industries digitize, their exposure to cyber attacks grows — threats now target physical operations, from pipelines and factories to logistics hubs, exposing weaknesses in legacy networks. Rising regulatory pressures and geopolitical uncertainty further amplify the need for data sovereignty and operational independence. A 2025 Deloitte smart-manufacturing survey found that 68% of manufacturing leaders have assessed cybersecurity risks in their industrial technology stacks, highlighting how deeply security and resilience are now tied to digital transformation.

Private networks process data locally, keeping information safer and giving organizations more control. Reliable wireless coverage helps sites stay secure and work together smoothly. Combined with zero-trust frameworks, encryption, traffic isolation and continuous identity verification, these networks protect critical infrastructure without interrupting operations. In sectors where uptime is vital, like energy, transportation, manufacturing and healthcare, this blend of security, control and autonomy has become essential.

Together, private 5G, always-on connectivity and advanced security frameworks form a strong digital foundation for the intelligent economy. Looking ahead, 6G will advance this foundation with AI-driven, self-optimizing networks that unlock capabilities, like integrated sensing for more adaptive, predictive operations. These capabilities promise a more intelligent, resilient and flexible infrastructure, powering entirely new opportunities for innovation and strategic advantage.

These are not distant ambitions; they are unfolding now as organizations modernize infrastructure to meet the demands of a constantly changing world. The global economy rewards adaptability, intelligence and trust. Enterprises that adopt advanced wireless architectures gain the speed, reliability and insight required to thrive.

As the intelligent economy takes shape, the winners will be those who act boldly and strategically. How will your organization harness the power of 5G to stay ahead?