The transition to 5G is underway and is realizing the 5G future is viewed by many as essential to sustain national competitiveness and as an essential infrastructure platform for supporting Smart-X, where X may be replaced with healthcare, greener energy grids, transport systems, supply chains, etcetera. But separating the hype from reality is challenging, in part, because 5G is part of a horizon vision that has the potential to significantly alter the fundamental economics that have characterized the evolution of mobile networking through its first four generations. None of today's 5G offerings nor those that will be available in the next few years will deliver the full complement of 5G promised performance improvements, and many analysts are skeptical that those performance improvements are really needed. Key implications of realizing the 5G promise are the need to transition toward more localized and granular control of network resources and increased converged/shared ownership of core resources, but how these may be managed and who will bear responsibility for the investment leaves the implications for the competitive landscape for wireless infrastructure services uncertain. While the incumbent mobile network operators (MNOs) are likely to continue to lead the drive toward 5G, their role in the wireless ecosystem may change significantly. This talk will focus on highlighting an economists' perspective on what 5G, viewed as a horizon vision, may mean for the evolution of wireless broadband networking and the disruptive potential that vision portends.