The expanding 5G landscape and wireless connectivity at the core of this technological evolution will provide new business opportunities as well as enable the businesses to become more efficient and customer centric.

This will also provide additional revenue streams for the telecom sector which needs to sustain the growth to be able to invest significantly in enhancing the network and rolling out 5G Networks.

5G can be a key driver for digital transformation, however the service providers need to overcome the challenges posed by the current global economic environment. The outbreak of the COVID-19 has negatively impacted the global economy and has created a hindrance in the 5G deployments world-wide.

The telecom market has shifted away from 5G during the first half of 2020 with a slow elevation in the subsequent quarters due to demand disruption, supply chain issues and Capex spend restructuring.  The GSM Association has cut its forecast for 2020 5G connections by 25 percent, predicting around 150 million 5G connections globally by the end of the year.

5G with its enormous potential will not just help in the times of these extreme disruptions but will be the driver for growth in the post pandemic world. Hence there is a need for concerted and coordinated efforts by governments as well as Telecom operators and OEMs to push through commercial roll outs of 5G to unlock the potential of the available technologies and provide impetus to the global growth agenda which is currently deeply disrupted.

5G will not only help organizations deal with the higher data demand but also will help them in overcoming the challenges of demand and supply side disruptions posed by the pandemic.

5G can transform the global economy and create significant opportunities for the businesses

As demand for data grows exponentially across the world, network upgrade and deployment of 5G will be the key to survival for organisations and Telecom service providers. As per the industry trade group GSMA, as of July 2020 there have been 81 commercial 5G launches encompassing 7 percent of the population penetration and it is predicted that by 2025, 5G will account for 20 percent of the global connections.5G technologies are expected to contribute $7.5tr global GDP value by 2030.

Major 5G use-cases to help revive the global economy include Industry automation, Mission critical applications, Self-driving vehicles, disinfectant drones/ robots, remote surgery, smart city, remote working, 3D videos, HD screens, work and play in the cloud, augmented reality / virtual reality, Cloud based hospital systems, smart video surveillance for enterprises, and smart home / building.

Dealing with changing customer behavior

There is a need to offer an exceptional customer experience to drive incremental revenue from existing customers as new sales have significantly dried up due to social distancing and the economic onslaught of the pandemic. The rollout of 5G will have a massive impact on customer experience as a faster, more reliable network will emerge and help businesses in enhancing their existing customer experience strategies.

5G will create a seamless browsing and omni channel experience for the end-user increasing the probability of a sale. It will enable ease of deployment of disruptive technologies such as VR/VR, AI, IoT, and Software as a Service (SaaS) which will capture consumers’ attention. 5G will enable advanced analytics and deployment of intelligent interactive platforms, resulting in greater understanding of customer preferences and connectivity between brands and consumers.

Focus areas for enterprises

The next wave of innovation in the telecom sector is being driven through enterprise solutions led by 5G. With the pandemic, the world has witnessed a mass shift to digital in order to survive the immense margin pressure, competitive landscape and to stay relevant in the current scenario. Enterprises have been forced to create digital platforms to replace their high cost physical infrastructure.

More and more organizations are significantly augmenting their digital transformation agendas and implementing new technologies such as AI/ML, RPA, Cloud, Blockchain, IoT, M2M and advanced data analytics in the heart of their business’s operations resulting in fundamental changes to how their businesses will operate going forward and how they will deliver value to customers.

There will also be demand for critical control in applications that require reliability and stability, such as autonomous vehicles, automated mining systems, video surveillance and monitoring, cloud robotics and automated warehouses.

New revenue generating opportunities

5G-enabled business environments will enable unparalleled opportunities for automation, digital transformation, business intelligence, and generate new revenue streams across all sectors such as healthcare, automobile, manufacturing, Education, Retail, Utilities, E-commerce etc. For example, unmanned vehicles, smart grids, AR/VR content, robotic surgeries etc. will drive growth through alliances/partnership models between Telcos, technology players and service providers.

Challenges

5G has enormous transformation capabilities and evolving use cases which have become even more relevant in the current scenario. However, there are still a few challenges in the rollout and implementation that need to be catered to.

There is still a strong need for collaboration with the regulators and other vendors and alliances to encourage interoperability, attract investments and more importantly, to lower the cost-to-serve per GB of 5G data to ensure higher outreach of the technology and continued benefits to the society as a whole.

Typical challenges that the operators are facing in rolling out 5G networks include –

# Telcos need to invest significant capex for building the 5G infrastructure including spectrum, radio access network (RAN) infrastructure, transmission, and core networks.

# To improve transmission, capacity and latency requirements, telcos must commence large-scale fiberization efforts to support small-cell deployment in urban areas.

# Delays in 5G spectrum auctions and regulations and higher floor price for the spectrum.

# The enterprise segment is considered to be a huge part of the 5G markets and telcos now need to forge new strategic alliances and create new business models to effectively monetize 5G.

# Operators need to undertake digital transformation initiatives and technological upskilling for employees to make themselves flexible enough to cater to the evolving 5G use-cases.

There are some Imperatives, which the stakeholders need to focus towards successful adoption and commercialization of 5G.

Pairing with the Regulators and Technology Partners

There has to be a close cooperation amongst government, carriers and vendors.  Adequate Spectrum Policy measures need to be adopted to encourage long-term heavy investments in 5G network. The carriers need to be enabled to serve thousands of connections at the same time. Multi-vendor Interoperabilityshould be allowed.

Launching a 5G Network with Minimum Investments

Upgrade and retrofit existing sites wherever possible by operating in the non-standalone (NSA) architecture and fast coverage expansion using copy cell. Downlink/ Uplink throughput enhancement with split bearer optimization and MRC beamforming. Reduce Cost-to-serve per GB of 5G data using enhanced spectral efficiency and traffic capacity.

Attracting Enterprises and Customers to get on Board with 5G

Regulators should avoid inflating 5G spectrum prices as this risks limiting network investment and driving up the cost of services. 5G stakeholders must discuss to ensure spectrum awards and licensing approaches considering technical and commercial deployment plans. Operators should focus on greater weight on 5G subsidy, more attractive tariff than 4G and compelling 5G content.

Role of ecosystem players

The 5G ecosystem is a rapidly evolving collaboration of various equipment OEMs, chipset manufacturers, IoT/ M2M device vendors, infrastructure providers, handset manufacturers in conjunction with the telecom service providers and regulators. Like any transformative technology, 5G ecosystem and supply chain are complex.

Telecommunication vendors, service operators, and vertical industry partners need to work together to build 5G cross-industry ecosystem. Such cross industry collaboration can facilitate new business value propositions, incubate innovative use-cases and establish an inclusive and win-win ecosystem.

It is imperative that all key players collaborate and work together for successful global outreach and development of new use-cases.

Telecom Service Providers

TSPs need to ensure ease of availability within the country. There is a need to develop a revenue model to monetize 5G and explore new revenue streams to recoup the investments made in 5G. The TSPs need to partner with infrastructure providers to cover larger areas and save costs using site sharing. The TSPs need to shift towards being a digital and integrated telco and incorporate network transformation and automation to support major use-cases like network slicing.

Regulators

Regulators should allow spectrum re-farming or use of 5G in different spectrums. Enterprises need to be allowed to license enough spectrum for them to be able to build private/closed user applications and avoid inefficiencies caused by spectrum fragmentation. Policies need to be framed for global network harmonization, technology and service neutrality and exclusive national licensing. There needs to be a support for long and short term industry convergence.

5G Network OEMs

There needs to be a good Collaboration with other equipment manufacturers and industry innovators to create the layers in the 5G ecosystem that make it viable. There is a need to build equipment optimized for the complex radio signal processing that 5G networks demand, considering the latency and bandwidth requirements and optimize antenna transmission and to eliminate noise introduced due to operating at high frequencies.

5G Chipset manufacturers

They need to provide support for mmWave-based 5G RAN infrastructure. There is a need to design chipsets that can be used across the 5G infrastructure chain to increase spectral efficiency, improve performance and to handle the immense network data flow and processing that 5G networks will require and support a wide range of frequencies. Further, Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) should be enabled and more cost-efficient chipsets should be designed to drive down the overall device costs.

5G Handset manufacturers

There is a need to manufacture affordable handsets that can improve the consumer reach of 5G and help create the ecosystem for device and facilitate mobileenabled 5G use-cases. They should enable support for sub-6 GHz, mmWave and extended-range mmWave bands, which can offer very high bandwidth and integrate and deploy the new 5G modem and RFFE components, features, and functionalities into their handsets.

Infrastructure Providers should considerably lower their operating expense structures and improve network uptime for operators. They need to plan and deploy an ergonomic fiber rich infrastructure to accommodate the 5G network.

Mohit Prabhakar, managing director, Protiviti Member Firm for India