The Untapped Opportunity in 5G Networks 

The 5G era arrived with an enormous promise of new use cases, revenue streams, and a platform that would fundamentally expand what mobile networks could deliver. Billions were spent building networks that could enable remote surgery, autonomous vehicles, and a proliferation of enterprise applications that would transform industries the way 4G LTE transformed ride-hailing and social media.  

Realizing that full promise has taken longer than the industry anticipated.  But in building that foundation, operators have created the conditions for something even more consequential: 5G-powered base 3D Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT).   

PNT is the killer application that mobile network operators have been searching for, and the catalyst has been embedded in the 5G standard all along. NextNav enables a carrier-grade solution that operators can deliver today, utilizing infrastructure they already own, and offering a high-value enterprise opportunity for MNOs. 

GPS Is a Single Point of Failure  
For nearly fifty years, GPS has been the backbone of American PNT. It is the key to everything from our smartphones and ATMs to aviation, shipping, power grids, and Wall Street. It all runs on precise timing and location information. But GPS has a structural vulnerability that is increasingly difficult to ignore: it is a single point of failure, and it was never designed for the threat environment we operate in today. 

GPS signals can be disrupted by intentional spoofing and jamming, and even by unintentional interference. These signals weaken as they approach Earth and that vulnerability threatens the American economy and national security. When that signal is disrupted, the cascade is immediate, severe, and costly.  

US policy directives and national security frameworks have called for a resilient, ground-based complement and backup to GPS for years. NextNav heard that call and has developed a widescale and commercially viable solution that leverages the 5G ecosystem and integrates with consumer devices at no cost to taxpayers.  

Mobile network operators already have the infrastructure, the operational scale, and the device and eco-system relationships.  

NextNav’s 5G-powered 3D PNT solution integrates into an operator’s network, utilizing 3GPP standardized 5G Positioning Reference Signals (PRS) transmitted over Lower 900 MHz band spectrum that can integrate directly into MNOs’ 5G networks. 

The result is a network-wide 5G 3D PNT service layer offering widescale coverage, indoor and dense urban capability, z-axis accuracy, and a terrestrial backup and complement to GPS that operates independently of satellite signal availability. 

The Opportunity for Operators 
The PNT opportunity for operators spans multiple high-value verticals: 

Public Safety: First responders need accurate 3D positioning, including floor-level z-axis information, including in places where GPS fails: indoors, urban canyons and GPS-denied environments. 5G-based 3D PNT addresses both the capability needs and current vulnerabilities. Operators with this capability will strengthen their public safety infrastructure and the value they provide to those that depend on them. 

Transportation and Logistics: Connected vehicle fleets, port operations, last-mile logistics networks, and ridesharing all depend on accurate, reliable positioning across wide geographic areas, exactly where 5G infrastructure excels. As drone delivery and advanced air mobility solutions, including air taxis, move toward commercial scale, the demand for carrier-grade 3D positioning will grow with them. 

Artificial Intelligence: Highly accurate location and timing are foundational inputs for AI-driven physical systems. Autonomous vehicles, drone fleets, and industrial robots don’t just process information; they also act in the physical world.  And they depend on continuous, accurate PNT to do so safely.  AI is also making PNT systems, themselves, smarter by improving signal processing, compensating for interference, and building resilience against jamming and spoofing.  As enterprises deploy autonomous systems that operate in the physical world, the quality of their PNT infrastructure directly determines the quality of their outcomes. 

Critical Infrastructure: There is also an urgent operational reality that goes beyond revenue opportunities. Mobile networks themselves rely on GPS timing to keep base stations synchronized. Most base stations are equipped with clocks that would begin to fail within minutes to hours of a GPS disruption, thereby degrading handovers, increasing call drops, and slowing data speeds. For operators, terrestrial PNT provides infrastructure resilience for their own networks. 

Ready for This Moment 
Mobile network operators have spent billions building 5G networks. The return on that investment requires more than a connectivity business model. PNT is the platform that moves operators from connectivity providers to mission-critical infrastructure partners: for public safety, for enterprise, and for national security. 

The urgency is real. The solution exists. The standard is ready. 

PNT is the killer app for 5G and the operators who move first will define what carrier-grade PNT looks like for the next decade. 

Deepak Joseph is Vice President of Product Management of NextNav, a pioneer in next-generation terrestrial positioning, navigation, and timing technology.