The potential economic value of the full application of 5G as an open innovation platform could add €210 billion in benefits to Europe, according to "5G action plan review for Europe", a study by Analysys Mason, Qualcomm Technologies and Ericsson shows.

The study includes Croatia. Smart Rural, one of the four study clusters which encompasses fixed-wireless access and agriculture, estimates a cost-to-benefit ratio of 4.3 for Croatia based on a cost projection of €142 million and a benefit of €605 million, Ericsson Nikola Tesla said on Thursday.

Smart Rural is the cluster with the highest cost-to-benefit ratio estimate. The estimate is lowest in the Smart Production and Logistics cluster, 1.2, based on a cost projection of €228 million bringing €285 million of benefit. In the Smart Urban cluster, the ratio estimate is 2.7, with €178 million of benefit for €65 million of cost, while in the Smart Public Services cluster the estimate is 3.4, with €36 million of benefit for €10 million of cost.

The study found that over €50 billion of benefit can be delivered for less than €20 billion of public funding, and that smart factories, agriculture and fixed-wireless access in suburban and rural areas will have the biggest impact on GDP by applying 5G.