There is great potential for new revenue for mobile operators from 5G in vertical industries. IDC’s research has identified four verticals that are among the highest on operators’ target lists: Automotive, Energy, Manufacturing and Healthcare. In each vertical, 5G can both enhance existing mobile network applications and enable new applications with the potential to improve efficiency, enhance productivity and reduce costs.
5G application groups include:
- In the Automotive industry, information and entertainment; navigation and journey; usage-based services; traffic balance and control; vehicle autonomy.
- In the Energy industry, site connectivity; smart grid; remote monitoring of facilities, infrastructure and personnel; operation and maintenance; exploration and extraction.
- In the Manufacturing industry, site connectivity; product connectivity; process optimisation; remote/centralised operation; worker augmentation.
- In the Healthcare industry, site connectivity and management; emergency handling; remote and extended practice; out-patient management; training and education.
Today’s 5G Is Only the Beginning
The first commercial 5G smartphones and services have appeared in 2019, and availability is spreading quickly. By the end of the year, over a dozen European mobile operators will be offering 5G enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) to their customers.
However, this is only the beginning of 5G’s capabilities. Over the next few years, further evolution in 5G technology will enable mobile operators to offer connectivity with ultra-fast response times, guaranteed performance levels and support for a far larger number of devices.
Today’s 5G is a mass-market proposition. But once these more advanced 5G capabilities come on stream, mobile operators are aiming to expand the scale and scope of the services they offer to enterprises.
Headlines are heralding “the 5G revolution”, but the truly innovative 5G capabilities are not here yet and they will take some more time to arrive. However, forward-thinking enterprises are already considering how their operations, processes and workflows could be transformed by the advanced capabilities of 5G. These enterprises see a future in which connectivity becomes a means of achieving competitive differentiation and business transformation.
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