Running short of dramatically new phone designs, leaders of the world¡¯s wireless industry agree their next big idea is 5G, shorthand for the fifth generation of networks they expect to have up and running by 2020.

But first they¡¯ll have to decide what 5G needs to do that the current, fourth generation of wireless networks will never offer.

¡°It is unclear what the opportunity or weakness that 5G should address is,¡± researchers at GSMA, the global trade group of mobile network operators, said in a report issued in December that punctured some of the more visionary claims for 5G.