The whole point of 5G is to give collaborator in wireless communications a path to long-lasting service. This can still happen, but we’re at the point now, with respect to original projections, that sustainability should already have been achieved.
A variety of obstacles are to blame for this, one being the pandemic. No, 5G is not the cause of the virus. No, populist sentiment against the base station and tower construction is not a serious roadblock here.
From the beginning, 5G’s rollout plan called for a transition period, during which 4G LTE and 5G would co-exist. August 2019 study by the GSMA industry association published before the pandemic warned that systems might not be sufficiently covered by revenue from services with higher bandwidth and greater coverage, including in urban areas.