[proce55ing]

Yes and the cost models are being driven down even more by Cat-M and NB-IoT.

I've been working in the IoT space for some time and there's now a real shift into these technologies for large scale telemetry deployments like you described. The shutdown of 2G networks across the world have ruled out a lot of the cheaper modems.

There are other benefits, such as enabling a larger set of solutions to be battery powered and for an increased lifespan.

High density, sparse traffic solutions like you described are often termed as mMTC (Massive Machine Type Communications). The main benefits to 5G in these regards focus on the mobile network and their ability to manage a higher volume of subscribers and therefore lower their costs to the end customer.