For large industrial facilities and institutional campuses, 5G would provide more stable communications than WiFi & LTE, with more capacity. Wireless that's reliable enough to replace Ethernet in factory settings has been elusive due to signal interference from industrial equipment and metal structures. Reliable wireless communications are also desirable to reduce installation costs and minimize industrial network complexity over time.

In just one industrial plant automation project on a sprawling site with many separate buildings, 5G wireless could have saved weeks of work to establish Ethernet cable pathways, protected Ethernet equipment locations, and WiFi locations. Even after careful site analysis by a well-known equipment vendor, standard WiFi was simply too weak to offer consistent coverage. Too many of the plant vehicles also interfered with WiFi frequencies.

"...the big question is where the spectrum is going to come from..."

"...Numerous industrial verticals apparently have been asking about private spectrum, and Volkswagen Group is already working with telco equipment maker Ericsson on a test laboratory."

"In the U.S., Citizen Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) at 3.5 GHz is about to become available. That would be suitable, Qualcomm says."