New research from the Ericsson Mobility Report team provides encouraging evidence for
communication service providers (CSPs) worldwide by identifying a correlation between 5G uptake and
revenue growth.
Flattening revenues have been a challenge for service providers in all parts of the world, often impacting
network investment decisions as part of their business growth strategies, known as ‘monetization’ in the
industry.
A special Ericsson Mobility Report edition – called the Business Review edition – addresses these
monetization opportunities as they relate to 5G.
The report highlights a positive revenue growth trend since the beginning of 2020 in the top 20* 5G
markets – accounting for about 85 percent of all 5G subscriptions globally – that correlates with
increasing 5G subscription penetration in these markets.
The report finds:
Tiered pricing models are key for service providers, both for effectively addressing the individual needs
of each customer and for continuing to drive long-term revenue growth.
The top 20 5G markets have seen a significant network performance boost following the introduction of
5G services.
After a period of slow or no growth, wireless service revenue curves are again pointing upwards in these
leading markets. This correlate with 5G subscription penetration growth.
Executive Vice President and Head of Networks, Ericsson, Fredrik Jejdling says: “Meeting our customers’
challenges is at the heart of our R&D efforts and every resulting product we develop. The link between
5G uptake and revenue growth in the top 20 5G markets underlines that not only is 5G a game changer,
but that early adopters benefit. What is particularly encouraging about this is that while 5G is still at a
relatively early phase, it is growing fast with proven early use cases and a clear path to medium and
long-term use cases.”
As expected, Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) is the main early use case for 5G, driven by increasing
geographical coverage and differentiated offerings. More than one billion 5G subscriptions are currently
active across some 230 live commercial networks globally. 5G eMBB offers the fastest revenue
opportunities for 5G, as it is an extension of service providers’ existing business, relying on the same
business models and processes. Even in the top 20 5G markets, about 80 per cent of consumers have yet
to move to 5G subscriptions – one pointer to the potential for revenue growth.
As highlighted in the November 2022 Ericsson Mobility Report, Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) is the
second biggest early 5G use case, particularly in regions with unserved or underserved broadband
markets. FWA offers attractive revenue growth potential for CSPs as it largely utilizes mobile broadband
assets. FWA connections are forecast to top 300 million within six years.
Beyond consumer subscribers, there are growing opportunities in enterprise and public sector
applications across the world.
5G enables significant value for enterprises, with private 5G networks and wireless wide area networks
being deployed for enterprise and industrial use.
Upgrading existing 4G sites to 5G has the potential to realize increases of 10 times in capacity and
reduce energy consumption by more than 30 percent, offering the possibility of growing revenue and
lowering costs, while addressing sustainability.
Jejdling adds: “Revenue growth and sustainability are recurring themes in my discussions with
customers. In this special Ericsson Mobility Report edition, we have explored how service providers are
tapping 5G opportunities. We see initial signs of revenue growth in advanced 5G markets with extensive
coverage build-out and differentiated service offerings. An equally crucial aspect of 5G is that it brings
cost advantages and helps service providers handle the data growth needed to drive future revenue.
This can make 5G the growth catalyst that the market has been waiting for.”
Note: The markets categorized as the Top 20 5G markets in the report are: Australia, Bahrain,
China, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, Kuwait, Monaco, Norway, Qatar, Saudi
Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, the UAE, the UK and the US.
They were selected on the basis of 5G subscription penetration. These markets represent 85 percent of
all 5G subscriptions globally – with each market having 5G penetration above 15 per cent.
https://www.zawya.com
