“5G is a leap of faith operators must be brave, and choose the red pill,” says Nokia

Network operators can be masters of their own destinies, provided they hold their nerve, invest heavily and refresh their entire infrastructure. This is Nokia’s verdict on the challenge facing operators, as the industry in Europe and the US appears split on the rollout of 5G technologies. Speaking at The Great Telco Debate in London, a straight-talking industry forum run by independent consultancy Lewis Insight, Nokia vice president of network marketing Phil Twist said operators in the US and China have taken a braver position than their counterparts in Europe. Among industry executives, he raised the red pill / blue pill metaphor, as presented to Neo by Morpheus in the Matrix films – a meme that goes from Alice in Wonderland, via Jefferson Airplane, to countless cultural stop-offs. Twist stuck with the Matrix version, which Nokia chief Rajeev Suri first tested out at Mobile World Congress Americas in Los Angeles in September. “Operators have a choice. They can take the red pill, which is about an uncertainty and leaving history behind, and making free choices about the future. And they can choose the blue pill, which brings comfort and safety, but is actually a beautiful prison. They question is, do you want safety and security, or the risk of new growth?” It was his opening gambit, as one of a series of speakers debating whether 5G is, in fact, revolutionary for enterprises and only evolutionary for consumers. Unlike his peers, from Ericsson and Vodafone, Twist reckons 5G holds enough in the way of transformative impact for the consumer sector too.