The era of 5G is (almost) upon us. While officially not due until 2020, it has already made its debut-of sorts. I allude, of course, to the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea. This has been, needless to say, enough to spur other operators into action. As a result, investments aplenty are the order of the day, as the 2020 deadline is nearing.
The bottom-line is this-5G brings with it the promise of agile and reliable communications. Operators can thus leverage this opportunity to unearth new (and potential) revenue streams. And why not? From being cornered (literally) in traditional voice and data services, these players can utilize next generation technologies to their advantage. For instance, operators can explore the full potential of The internet of Things (IoT). Merely owing to the magnitude of connectivity it facilitates. Smart homes, smart cities, smart cars, et all, the list goes on. Clearly a win-win, considering the sheer number of use cases coming to the table!
How 5G Will Make Operator Re-examine their Business
First thing’s first, though. Operators ought to consider this as a lucrative opportunity to rethink their business. Why? Well, as per industry experts, 5G has the potential to overall enhance an operator’s business. This is in terms of use cases, partners, faster time-to-market, etc. Secondly, it enables higher uptake of IoT-based offerings. This, in turn, enables the operator to tap the enterprise market. Also, perhaps most importantly, the network becomes their calling card. It is what sets the player apart from the competition.
To elaborate, this process entails not just the model itself but how these players participate in the ecosystem. And facilitate value and growth, of course. In other words, what role will these players take on-connectivity providers or infrastructure and network players? Platform enablers, mobile broadband companies or solution providers?
Another approach is examining the bigger picture. As per Comarch, what customers actually want, how those needs can be best met, how services can be billed and what partnerships best ensure success. Simply put, operators ought to offer highly customized services that optimally utilize bandwidth and speeds. They also ought to clearly define their portfolio, as opposed to “value added” services and ink lucrative partnerships. This is especially significant, as “network slicing” between the operator and a partner usually implies new revenue sources for both parties.
In a nutshell, operators ought to have a clear view of what their customers actually require and how best to cater to them. Addressing these questions is what will define an operator’s success or failure in these times.
5G: Unearthing a Plethora of Use Cases
Now, here’s where it gets slightly tricky. Here’s how-with all the millions of use cases being spoken about endlessly, how does one narrow down the scope? For this blog, at least, I shall confine myself to two-smart cities and smart traffic management.
Smart Cities
As the 2020 deadline draws nearer, industry stakeholders are, understandably, scrambling to jump onto the 5G bandwagon. In other words, operators and vendors alike are testing the waters through the development of various 5G use cases. Of these, smart cities seem to have captured the most mindshare. And why not-industry experts certainly seem optimistic about its potential. Sample this-Zion Market Research pegged the smart city space at a $55.3 billion in 2017. This is expected to reach $2,700.1 billion globally by 2024, growing at a CAGR of around 16 per cent between 2018 and 2024.
So, why the hype? Well, for all intents and purposes, it is the advent of a massive amount of machine type communications-or IoT. It is, in a nutshell, the ability to seamlessly connect embedded sensors in virtually anything one can think of. So much so that 50 billion of potential IoT devices are expected to be active by 2020.
Now, 5G comes into play because the need of the hour is highly responsive, secure and speedy communication networks that can accommodate large amounts of data.
The idea, briefly, is that 5G carries data at speeds older networks do not even hope to reach. Therefore, communication between cars, traffic signals and lights is safer, more efficient and, of course, secure.
Distilling the argument further, a smart traffic management system functioning over a 5G network can increase the flow of traffic, thereby reducing congestion. This is achieved by changing traffic signals based on real-time traffic patterns monitored by cameras and sensors connected to a shared network.
The Underlying Networks
While the potential of 5G is, indeed, very real, operators would do well to remember an important fact. Investments in existing networks is just one part of the overall proves. 5G cannot be leveraged to its full potential without transforming the base that initiates, controls, delivers and monetizes these services.
I refer to the operations and business support systems (OSS/BSS), of course. It’s quite simple, really. As 5G is increasingly deployed commercially, telecom operators need these stacks to develop and deploy flexible syste
The era of 5G is (almost) upon us. While officially not due until 2020, it has already made its debut-of sorts. I allude, of course, to the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea. This has been, needless to say, enough to spur other operators into action. As a result, investments aplenty are the order of the day, as the 2020 deadline is nearing.
The bottom-line is this-5G brings with it the promise of agile and reliable communications. Operators can thus leverage this opportunity to unearth new (and potential) revenue streams. And why not? From being cornered (literally) in traditional voice and data services, these players can utilize next generation technologies to their advantage. For instance, operators can explore the full potential of The internet of Things (IoT). Merely owing to the magnitude of connectivity it facilitates. Smart homes, smart cities, smart cars, et all, the list goes on. Clearly a win-win, considering the sheer number of use cases coming to the table!
How 5G Will Make Operator Re-examine their Business
First thing’s first, though. Operators ought to consider this as a lucrative opportunity to rethink their business. Why? Well, as per industry experts, 5G has the potential to overall enhance an operator’s business. This is in terms of use cases, partners, faster time-to-market, etc. Secondly, it enables higher uptake of IoT-based offerings. This, in turn, enables the operator to tap the enterprise market. Also, perhaps most importantly, the network becomes their calling card. It is what sets the player apart from the competition.
To elaborate, this process entails not just the model itself but how these players participate in the ecosystem. And facilitate value and growth, of course. In other words, what role will these players take on-connectivity providers or infrastructure and network players? Platform enablers, mobile broadband companies or solution providers?
Another approach is examining the bigger picture. As per Comarch, what customers actually want, how those needs can be best met, how services can be billed and what partnerships best ensure success. Simply put, operators ought to offer highly customized services that optimally utilize bandwidth and speeds. They also ought to clearly define their portfolio, as opposed to “value added” services and ink lucrative partnerships. This is especially significant, as “network slicing” between the operator and a partner usually implies new revenue sources for both parties.
In a nutshell, operators ought to have a clear view of what their customers actually require and how best to cater to them. Addressing these questions is what will define an operator’s success or failure in these times.
5G: Unearthing a Plethora of Use Cases
Now, here’s where it gets slightly tricky. Here’s how-with all the millions of use cases being spoken about endlessly, how does one narrow down the scope? For this blog, at least, I shall confine myself to two-smart cities and smart traffic management.
Smart Cities
As the 2020 deadline draws nearer, industry stakeholders are, understandably, scrambling to jump onto the 5G bandwagon. In other words, operators and vendors alike are testing the waters through the development of various 5G use cases. Of these, smart cities seem to have captured the most mindshare. And why not-industry experts certainly seem optimistic about its potential. Sample this-Zion Market Research pegged the smart city space at a $55.3 billion in 2017. This is expected to reach $2,700.1 billion globally by 2024, growing at a CAGR of around 16 per cent between 2018 and 2024.
So, why the hype? Well, for all intents and purposes, it is the advent of a massive amount of machine type communications-or IoT. It is, in a nutshell, the ability to seamlessly connect embedded sensors in virtually anything one can think of. So much so that 50 billion of potential IoT devices are expected to be active by 2020.
Now, 5G comes into play because the need of the hour is highly responsive, secure and speedy communication networks that can accommodate large amounts of data.
The idea, briefly, is that 5G carries data at speeds older networks do not even hope to reach. Therefore, communication between cars, traffic signals and lights is safer, more efficient and, of course, secure.
Distilling the argument further, a smart traffic management system functioning over a 5G network can increase the flow of traffic, thereby reducing congestion. This is achieved by changing traffic signals based on real-time traffic patterns monitored by cameras and sensors connected to a shared network.
The Underlying Networks
While the potential of 5G is, indeed, very real, operators would do well to remember an important fact. Investments in existing networks is just one part of the overall proves. 5G cannot be leveraged to its full potential without transforming the base that initiates, controls, delivers and monetizes these services.
I refer to the operations and business support systems (OSS/BSS), of course. It’s quite simple, really. As 5G is increasingly deployed commercially, telecom operators need these stacks to develop and deploy flexible systems and retire old school ones.
So, what changes are required? Well, to support any next generation service, the OSS/BSS stacks ought to house all kinds of pricing policies, charging models, quality of service parameters, et all. And that’s just the beginning. With all kinds of new partnerships expected, these stacks ought to be transformed in key areas such as customer acquisition, policy charging and customer service. The underlying idea is to ensure that these stacks are simplified. This entails creating an open architecture, supporting standard application programming interfaces (APIs) and remaining open to DevOps.
To support next generation services such as IoT, the OSS/BSS must automate interactions between the various players in the ecosystem. These systems ought to be more data-centric and leverage data to provision and bill customers.
Another vital aspect is developing a micro-services-based architecture. Aimed at making the system more agile, operators ought to collaborate with vendors to develop solutions using a catalogue of micro-services. In fact, industry experts deem that combining micro-services with DevOps will enable these players to be more agile, innovate faster and ensure significant savings in operating expenditure.
To sum up, 5G will, without a doubt, transform the very dynamics of the telecom space. Having said that, however, before operators can actually leverage the technology, they will have to sort out the finer details first. After all, mere investment isn’t enough. Operators ought to look at the big picture to ensure they manage to retain any market value. Times are changing so why not how one views one’s business as well?
ms and retire old school ones.
So, what changes are required? Well, to support any next generation service, the OSS/BSS stacks ought to house all kinds of pricing policies, charging models, quality of service parameters, et all. And that’s just the beginning. With all kinds of new partnerships expected, these stacks ought to be transformed in key areas such as customer acquisition, policy charging and customer service. The underlying idea is to ensure that these stacks are simplified. This entails creating an open architecture, supporting standard application programming interfaces (APIs) and remaining open to DevOps.
To support next generation services such as IoT, the OSS/BSS must automate interactions between the various players in the ecosystem. These systems ought to be more data-centric and leverage data to provision and bill customers.
Another vital aspect is developing a micro-services-based architecture. Aimed at making the system more agile, operators ought to collaborate with vendors to develop solutions using a catalogue of micro-services. In fact, industry experts deem that combining micro-services with DevOps will enable these players to be more agile, innovate faster and ensure significant savings in operating expenditure.
To sum up, 5G will, without a doubt, transform the very dynamics of the telecom space. Having said that, however, before operators can actually leverage the technology, they will have to sort out the finer details first. After all, mere investment isn’t enough. Operators ought to look at the big picture to ensure they manage to retain any market value. Times are changing so why not how one views one’s business as well?
