There are many attempts to quantify the impact 5G may have on society and the economy, and the latest of those comes from a company with a clear interest in accelerating adoption, Qualcomm. The chip giant has published a study called ‘The 5G Economy’, conducted by research firm IHS Markit, which equates next generation wireless with inventions like electricity, the steam engine, the printing press and the Internet. This echoes comments made by Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf in his keynote address at the recent Consumer Electronics Show, in which he compared 5G’s impact with that of electricity or the car. All these inventions are classified by socio-economic analysts as General Purpose Technologies (GPTs), which trigger transformative changes that redefine processes…