Overhyped or underutilized? 5G must deliver on its promises now

After a slow start, it’s time for 5G to finally pay off for Belgium. Faster connectivity is nice, but the value of 5G lies in what you do with it, experts in the Belgian industry unanimously agree.

“Connectivity is gradually becoming a basic need for businesses,” says Séverine Waterbly, chairman of FOD Economy, kicking off the first edition of Powered by 5G. With this new event, the FOD wants to highlight the economic value of 5G. Belgium had what could mildly be called a difficult start, but Waterbly is positive that 5G is about to make an impact.

The showroom offers telecom providers Proximus, Telenet, Orange and Citymesh the chance to show off against each other. Orange even uses the scent of fresh popcorn. The mutual competition is not about who claims to have the fastest 5G network, but about which innovative, industrial applications that network supports.

According to federal minister of Digitalization Vanessa Matz (Les Engagés), that’s what it should be about. “It’s not about the technology, but what you do with it. 5G only works in an ecosystem.”

Beautiful promise, slow implementation

Has 5G been the ‘game changer’ it was always announced to be? François Rottenberg, assistant professor of the DRAMCO research group at KUL, dares to question that. “The business case was missed because it took too long before 5G reached industry. To date, no ‘killer app’ has been developed.”

We also hear a more nuanced vision from the operator camp. Bram De Valck, 5G Programme Lead B2B for Telenet, compares 5G implementation at companies to building a house. “It almost always takes longer than planned. Companies underestimate the time needed to get contracts and permits sorted. We must avoid it becoming a ‘technology push’, but look at what applications need. 5G doesn’t solve everything.”

Five lanes

The first 5G networks in Belgium weren’t actually ‘full-fledged’ 5G, but built on 4G infrastructure. A study by BIPT in summer 2025 marks the rollout of Standalone 5G as the next big step. With 5G SA, new applications become possible such as slicing: the ability to split off a piece of a public network and allocate it for specific use.

With slicing, 5G networks will become ‘programmable’. For an original metaphor, we need to turn to De Valck again. “On a public network you have less control over capacity. With the transition from 4G to 5G we switched from two lanes to five and with slicing it now becomes possible to keep one of those lanes free.”

“The lanes run parallel without affecting each other, so we don’t have to compromise on capacity for other users. The capacity on the 5G network is far from exhausted,” adds De Valck. The telecom sector is trying to obtain the coveted 6 GHz band to expand the network, but the wifi lobby is also lurking.

Start small

Organizers FOD Economy and Beltug don’t want to make it a ‘technology party’, but focus on what 5G can mean in practice for different sectors. During an industry panel, experiences and best practices are shared. Jan Smet, Connectivity & Industrial Telecom Manager at BASF, shares how his organization approached it. At one of Belgium’s largest industrial sites, reliable coverage is not a superfluous luxury.

“We started with small use cases that deliver direct added value, to convince the rest of the company. The strength lies not in the technology, but in standardization. Don’t wait until 5G can do everything you want, because then it will already be outdated. The teething problems are there, but that shouldn’t be a reason not to start. Don’t look for the ‘killer use case’, but start with accessible projects,” says Smet.

A word that regularly comes up during a panel is redundancy. This must be built into the network from the beginning, according to Joris Emanuel as CIO at Van Moer Logistics. “It’s a ‘European luxury’ to think that a network can’t fail. High data loads can put a network in trouble. This must not happen once you go into production. This requires extra puzzle work during installation and choosing the right partner.”

“But redundancy must also be able to protect against unexpected power outages,” Chris Matthys from Tres points out. He refers to a recent incident in San Francisco: a power outage suddenly brought the self-driving Waymo taxis, otherwise a showcase for 5G connectivity, to a standstill. “Ask yourself ‘Can you continue your activities if the network fails?’ and set requirements around this. But in public space you can’t just catch this.”

Don’t wait until 5G can do everything you want, because then it will already be outdated.

Jan Smet, Connectivity & Industrial Telecom Manager BASF 

From 5G to 6G: learning from the past

While there’s still much potential in 5G in Belgian industry, there’s already a cautious look toward the 6G era. The academic, public and telecom sectors come together in the Bel6Gica project to avoid Belgium missing its start again. “There’s a lot of high-level academic research in Belgium, but little coordinated approach,” we hear Imec researcher Michael Peeters say in a video.

The 5G rollout should serve as a lesson for the step to the next generation. Rottenberg: “The transition to 6G will be crucial for the technical sovereignty of Belgium and Europe. We must look with a democratic perspective. Communication is becoming increasingly ubiquitous in society and will leave nothing or no one behind. Economic and social needs must be the main drivers.”

6G will still be several years away. The long standardization process is still in full swing and commercial rollout is only expected in the next decade. Roothooft calls on policymakers not to wait for that: “The question is not whether we will need 6G, but which 6G we want. It’s more than a technological question, so let’s avoid it becoming a purely technological story.”