The Downside of 5G: Overwhelmed Cities, Torn-Up Streets, a Decade Until Completion

This is the paradox of 5G, the collection of technologies behind next-generation wireless networks: They require a gargantuan quantity of wires. This is because 5G requires many more small towers, all of which must be wired to the internet. The consequences of this unavoidable reality are myriad. The 5G build-out, which could take more than a decade, could disrupt our commutes, festoon nearly every city block with antennas, limit what cities can charge for renting spots on their infrastructure to carriers on which to place their antennas, and result in an unequal distribution of access to high-speed wireless, at least at first. 

Of course, it’s also a bonanza for the companies that supply this fiber-optic cable. But buying the fiber is the easy part for the carriers. “The secret nobody likes to talk about is when you’re deploying a network, the equipment—fiber, cable—is actually a small cost compared to the cost of digging holes,” says Claudio Mazzali, senior vice president of technology at Corning Optical Communications, a subsidiary of Corning. That high cost also includes getting city permits, striking deals with landowners and installing the antennas themselves.