Operators around the globe gearing up for 5G: Ericsson survey

Operators around the globe have accelerated preparations for 5G where 78% respondents are involved in 5G trials, according to a survey conducted by Ericsson. Last year, only 32% of the respondents were involved in 5G-related activities which ahs increased significantly this year.

Also, according to this year’s survey, 28% of the respondents expect to deploy 5G next year. The report further said that the operators have further developed their business strategies for 5G services.

Operators have plans to monetize 5G which involves migration of subscribers from 4G to 5G and expanding into enterprise and industry market segments.

“In the 2016 survey, 90 percent of the respondents pointed to consumers as the main segment in their 5G business planning. This year, it is an even split between three segments and operators have identified business opportunities not only in the consumer segment but also with enterprise users and specialized industries,” said Thomas Noren, Head of 5G Commercialization, Ericsson.

The report said that the operators are seeing that the consumer market is becoming saturated. Therefore, 5G planning this year is more evenly distributed across specialized industry segments (58 %), business users (56%), and consumers (52%).

The survey brought out that media and entertainment, automotive and public transport are the most attractive sectors for 5G applications followed by healthcare, energy and utilities.

Moreover, majority respondents believe Internet of Things will play an important role and that third-party collaboration will be essential in this context.

Also, when it comes to 5G monetization, the respondents said that additional revenue will be generated from increased market share, migration of 4G subscribers, higher prices for new services, and by expansion into new enterprise and industry segments.

The survey was conducted from 50 executives in business and technical areas that work for 37 operators globally that have announced publicly they are working on 5G.

You may also like

More in Telecom

Comments are closed.