Resilient City Digest. Edition 10

5G technology has long outgrown its role as a mobile service. Today, it is the foundation on which the digital resilience of cities is built. Despite regulatory and infrastructure challenges, ignoring 5G in urban development strategies is no longer an option.

In the new issue of Resilient City Digest, we analyze the global 5G market landscape, explore its role in the transformation of smart cities, and examine real-world cases that are changing the rules of the game. Let’s dive into the details!

Global 5G: market scale, trends, and forecasts

According to the latest reports from Ericsson Mobility Report and GSMA Intelligence, the pace of 5G deployment remains the fastest in the history of telecommunications:

• By the end of 2025, the number of active 5G connections worldwide surpassed 2.9 billion, accounting for approximately 33% of all mobile subscriptions.
• 5G is spreading four times faster than 4G did at the same stage. It is expected that by the end of 2027, 5G will become the most widely used access technology globally.
• By 2030, according to some estimates, 5G technologies will add around $1 trillion annually to global GDP, while the total number of connections will reach 6.3–6.4 billion.

Geography of leadership: who sets the pace?

1. China: the undisputed leader, accounting for nearly 50% of all global connections (over 1.2 billion).
2. North America: the United States and Canada show the highest penetration rates among the population and focus on mmWave 5G for industrial automation.
3. Europe: by the end of 2026, 5G is expected to become the primary technology across the EU, although high infrastructure costs and regulatory restrictions on spectrum remain key limiting factors.

Today, 5G is moving into the “Standalone” phase  – a fully independent architecture that can become the foundation for smart city ecosystems. The key advantage of this technology is the ability to create dedicated virtual “fast lanes” for emergency services, ensuring that critical communications for police or ambulances do not depend on overall network congestion. 5G is actively being integrated into power grids, security systems, and autonomous transport.

Thanks to built-in artificial intelligence, the network manages its capacity autonomously and reduces energy consumption, while near-zero latency finally makes autonomous vehicles and remote healthcare safe and reliable.

5G for smart Cities: application architecture

The shift toward private 5G networks and edge computing technologies is turning cities into living organisms, where data is processed instantly on site rather than in remote clouds. This enables scenarios that once seemed like science fiction:

• Transport and mobility: traffic flow analysis, prioritization of public transport, dynamic traffic lights, support for autonomous vehicles, and more.
• Public safety: video analytics, body cameras, and ultra-precise geolocation of field personnel.
• Healthcare: telemedicine and on-site monitoring of vital signs, from large public events to mobile emergency teams.
• Digital twins of cities: virtual replicas of urban infrastructure. For example, in Singapore, data from thousands of sensors is used to model how new buildings will affect airflow or energy consumption, helping avoid environmental mistakes already at the planning stage.
• Smart street lighting and environmental monitoring: streetlights equipped with 5G modules not only reduce energy consumption but also serve as base stations for air quality, noise, and water-level sensors, which is critical for flood prevention.

The use of private 5G networks allows cities to deploy their own secure ecosystems. This provides full control over data and ensures that critical services remain stable even during large-scale internet outages.

Real-World 5G implementation use cases in smart cities

Cities that have invested in private and municipal 5G networks are already creating the conditions to enhance safety, improve urban logistics efficiency, and raise the quality of life for citizens.Here are some of the most compelling examples as of the end of 2025:

• Istres (France): the city became one of the first in Europe to deploy an autonomous private 5G infrastructure in partnership with Ericsson. The results are striking: the cost of installing a single video surveillance camera dropped from €30,000 to €5,000, as there is no longer a need to lay kilometers of cables. The network enables instant coordination between police and emergency services through encrypted channels that do not rely on the public internet.
• Las Vegas (USA): the metropolis has built its own private 5G network connecting parks, schools, and road systems. It is designed to support autonomous shuttles and intelligent parking management systems to reduce the number of accidents. This approach significantly lowers infrastructure maintenance costs.

These examples prove that 5G is already a real tool for saving public budgets and protecting lives.

5G in Ukraine: current state, challenges, and prospects

Ukraine has officially joined the global 5G race. In 2025, pilot 5G launches began in Lviv and Borodianka. This is a joint project of the Ministry of Digital Transformation, the National Commission for the State Regulation of Electronic Communications, and leading mobile operators. The goal of the pilots is to assess network performance in real urban conditions. If the testing proves successful, expansion to other major cities is planned, including Kharkiv, Kyiv, and Odesa, provided the security situation allows.

For Ukrainian cities, 5G opens the path to “smart” recovery — from monitoring the condition of damaged buildings to intelligent security systems in schools and hospitals. According to the government’s plan, full-scale network deployment is set to begin after the end of martial law. At the same time, infrastructure preparation and regulatory framework development are already underway to ensure Ukrainians have connectivity that meets global standards.

5G is a true technological armor for the modern city. In an increasingly unpredictable world, fast and reliable data exchange is what allows urban infrastructure to remain flexible, secure, and economically efficient.

MISTO expands its functionality in Odesa

New urban digital services are being rolled out in the MISTO mobile app, expanding access to municipal services for businesses, supporting accessibility, and improving parking management transparency.

Businesses can now use the app to access digital administrative services provided by Centers for Providing Administrative Services, including remote booking for electronic queues. The functionality allows users to browse available services, select the relevant Center for Providing Administrative Services, view available dates and time slots, and manage active appointments with clear details on location and timing.

As part of the accessibility services expansion, MISTO introduces an interactive accessibility map. It provides structured information about urban infrastructure facilities adapted for people with disabilities and other low-mobility groups, including addresses, operating hours, and available accessibility features.

For drivers, a new parking violation check feature has been added. The service allows users to verify parking-related violations and access official payment details for completing payments outside the app.

These updates further strengthen MISTO as a unified digital platform that simplifies interaction between cities, businesses, and residents.


Follow smart city news in upcoming issues of Resilient City Digest, where we will continue exploring technologies that make our lives better!