Key Success Factors for End-User Adoption of 5G Technology Within a Low-Middle Income Country : A case study in Malaysia

Sammanfattning: Recent breakthroughs within technology and data science have initiated talks of a new emerging industrial revolution, being the fourth of its kind. This revolution, titled as Industry 4.0, implies further digitalization with AI and machine learning helping pave the way for improved robotic interconnection, decentralized decisions and linking the physical world with the virtual world. An important enabler for the transformation is 5G which will allow higher data speed, lower latency of communication, and improved network resilience, compared to its precursor 4G. That being said, a successful 5G rollout and adoption is not an easy task, especially for low-middle income countries. The 5G technology and the innovations it enables, could act as major economical catalysts for these countries and thus it is important to understand the potential barriers they are facing. To help clarify the matter, this study included a conduction of semi-structured interviews with some of the most important actors in the Malaysian 5G ecosystem. The ambition was to uncover the biggest barriers impeding the adoption of 5G technologies, as well as key enabling factors accelerating it. The results showed that low fibre infrastructure development, obscure pricing of 5G spectrum, high trait of complexity among 5G technology and associated innovations, customer unawareness, potential hampering of innovation due to a Single Wholesale Network approach (SWN), and a “Chicken or Egg”-dilemma between infrastructure providers and 5G application providers, represent the main barriers for a successful 5G implementation in Malaysia. At the same time, enabling factors such as a strong governmental backing, increased demand amongst end-users, high competitiveness of the telecommunication industry, and the SWN potentially mitigating the "Chicken or Egg"-dilemma were also identified and presented. An external validity assessment showed that most of the barriers could also be applied to neighbouring countries within the Southeast Asia region, providing practical implications for policy makers and industry actors working with the adoption of 5G technology within low-middle income countries.