While you’re reading this, companies are bidding close to $80 billion for a technology that’s going to shape the future.
Last month, almost 60 companies put in bids with the Federal Communications Commission to take control of 5G airwaves. You know many of these names: Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Dish Network, and Comcast, just to name a few. Over the past months, these companies have been competing against each other to the point that the bidding has blown past estimates of $47 billion.
That estimate was already more than the $45 billion in bids from the 2015 airwaves auction. There’s still another week to go before bidding closes.
It’s a perfect storm, with telecom companies scrambling to be the leaders as 5G technology becomes more widespread. Whoever manages to submit the winning bid will be poised to overtake their competition and control what’s set to be one of the most important technologies of the next decade.
Ultimately, for this letter anyway, the company that ends up winning won’t matter much. What matters is what the spread of this technology ultimately means and how investors can get in on small companies set to skyrocket as they make innovations in the coming 5G boom.
Not Just for Phones
When it comes to what 5G technology is going to do for our society, a lot of the talk focuses on mobile devices. Dig a little deeper and you’ll see that phones and other personal devices are just one small aspect of it. As this tech becomes more widespread, we will see it innovate in a number of different areas.
The internet of things is set to be one of the biggest areas to benefit from the technology. Usually, when the term internet of things (IoT) comes up, it’s in the context of connected devices throughout the home. Not many people realize that the term can also be applied to critical infrastructure. 5G can be used to help manage smart electricity grids, which require constant, real-time control and monitoring. This is largely achieved via wired communication, but that could change thanks to the reliability of 5G. Operators would be able to switch to wireless connections without sacrificing performance. This would allow them to carry out system maintenance while keeping up with demand and protecting the power grid from cybersecurity threats.
Heavy industry is another area set to benefit from 5G technology becoming more common. Think about the machines used in areas like mining and construction. Thanks to 5G, operators will be able to use much of this equipment remotely. That means that the machines will continue to function in sometimes hazardous environments while removing the human element and reducing the risk of injury or death. Much like we’ll see with factory automation over the next few years, the adoption of 5G for heavy industry also means greater productivity. That productivity will feed the growth of the companies behind it.
This also extends to agriculture. Using 5G technology, farms all over the world have been able to make operations much more efficient in a number of different ways. From pest and disease control, to using robots to tell weeds from crops, to analyzing the movement and eating habits of cows, 5G has brought farming into the 21st century. This might be the single most important area to benefit from the technology. The world population is predicted to continue growing for the foreseeable future and all of those people have to be fed, after all. This increased efficiency can also work to help curb emissions, making the benefit to society twofold.
It’s still the early days, but 5G technology becoming widespread is a matter of when, not if. The three areas outlined above are only a few ways in which 5G is set to become a part of our lives. It won’t be long before most have some kind of 5G presence.
Here Before You Know It
Everything outlined above points to a societal shift that doesn’t happen often.
And that shift points the chance for massive gains for early investors. Because of the variety, there are many different ways to play the 5G boom, some more popular than others.
Outsider Club’s Jimmy Mengel has one play that has largely flown under the radar.
The details are all here in his latest report. He tells you the how, when, and why of this profit opportunity.
It’s a profit opportunity you shouldn’t miss. The 5G boom will be here before you realize it, and your chance to profit will be gone before you know it if you don’t act right away.
