ENTERPRISE 5G REQUIRES NEW MODELS

BT AND ERICSSSON HAVE announced a partnership to work promote enterprise 5G that dips into BT’s new £100 million Division X fund. Hailed as the first agreement of its kind, the aim is for IoT and private 5G networks to be deployed more rapidly in the UK. Division X will fund deployment for such technologies, alongside edge computing, cloud computing, and AI.

5G Private Networks are expected to grow to $14 billion globally as organisations by 2028, as standalone 5G matures.

BT’s Marc Overton, MD for Division X, described 5G as “foundational”.

“5G private networks will also support smart factory processes and the advancement of Industry 4.0 which can realise significant cost savings and efficiencies for manufacturers,” BT said in a statement.

The two have already worked together, installing a 5G private network across 35 acres at Belfast Harbour. This enables a range of applications including CCTV, air quality monitors, drones and mi-fi dongles. It is a subtle repositioning by industry, however.

“The original MNO vision of delivering enterprise networks as ‘5G network slices” partitioned from their national infrastructure has taken a back seat”, analyst Dean Bubley explained in a recent newsletter. https://www. linkedin.com/pulse/telcos-should-focusconnected-data-just-edge-computing-deanbubley/

“There is more interest currently in the creation of dedicated on-premise private 5G networks, via telcos’ enterprise or integrator units.”

But operators are keeping their options open. Vodafone, the leading IoT vendor

$14bn according to a recent Juniper Research study – ahead of Tata and TNS – disclosed it is open to spinning its IoT business out completely. That would clear the way for a merger, which Ofcom said it is more inclined to approve, in principle, in February, dropping its long held commitmtent to four consumer mobile networks in the UK market.

Expected value of 5G private networks globally by 2028, as standalone 5G technolgy matures.

5G private networks are predicted to grow at an average rate of 40 per cent a year between 2021 and 2028, by which time the market will be worth $14 billion (€13 billion).

Link: https://newsroom.bt.com/bt-andericsson-sign-multi-million-poundpartnership-to-provide-commercial-5gnetworks/