Network providers set to target enterprise for 'significant' 5G growth

5G network infrastructure revenue set to nearly double in 2020, according to Gartner

As 5G continues to roll out, enterprise organisations will be increasingly targeted as a means to considerably grow network infrastructure revenue, according to Gartner.

The analyst said that although consumers are the main segment driving the development and consumption of 5G, equipment vendors see industrial users as a segment with "significant potential".

5G networks are expected to expand the mobile ecosystem to cover new industries, including the smart factory, autonomous transportation, remote healthcare, agriculture and retail sectors, as well as allowing private networks for industrial users.

"It's still early days for the 5G private-network opportunity, but vendors, regulators and standards bodies have preparations in place," said Sylvain Fabre, senior research director at Gartner.

Some vendors and nations have already announced their preparations, including Germany and Japan, which are reserving bandwidth for these networks.

Ericsson intends to deliver its solutions via communications service providers (CSP) in order to build private networks with high levels of reliability and performance and secure communications.

Meanwhile, Nokia has developed a portfolio that allows large industrial organisations to invest directly in their own private networks.

"National 5G coverage will not occur as quickly as with past generations of wireless infrastructure," Fabre continued.

"To maintain average performance standards as 5G is built out, CSPs will need to undertake targeted strategic improvements to their 4G legacy layer, by upgrading 4G infrastructure around 5G areas of coverage.

"A less robust 4G legacy layer adjoining 5G cells could lead to real or perceived performance issues as users move from 5G to 4G/LTE Advanced Pro.

"This issue will be most pronounced from 2019 through 2021, a period when 5G coverage will be focused on hot spots and areas of high population density."

Gartner also forecast that revenue from 5G wireless network infrastructure will climb to $4.2bn (£3.5bn), an 89 per cent jump from 2019's revenue of $2.2bn.

Next year will see CSPs roll out standalone 5G technology, requiring 5G New Radio (NR) equipment and core network. This will improve performance for users, as well as lowering the costs for CSPs.

"5G wireless network infrastructure revenue will nearly double between 2019 and 2020," Fabre stated.

"For 5G deployments in 2019, CSPs are using non-standalone technology. This enables them to introduce 5G services that run more quickly, as 5G NR equipment can be rolled out alongside existing 4G core network infrastructure."