The year is 2028, five years from now. The network administrator of a large port in Mumbai, receives a message on his handheld device that one of their automated guided vehicles (AGV) is malfunctioning, causing a delay in the loading of a critical shipment. The network administrator issues a command through his phone which triggers a drone to capture the video of the faulty AGV and relay it back to his phone. He disconnects the AGV from the company’s private 5G network, introduces another AGV which was kept redundant for such exigencies, and ensures timely loading of the shipment. All of this was executed through his mobile phone and completed within a few minutes.
This is just one possibility of our future private networks, enabling our enterprise customers to become more resilient, reliable, and efficient. The enterprises in the near future will be extensively using digital twins, extended reality (XR), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and other advance technologies to communicate in ways which may not be even possible to imagine today. With the expanding needs of various businesses and industries, private 5G networks are an important advancement in the telecom industry. A GSMA report “Exploring 5G private network opportunities in Asia Pacific” found that 16% of operators in Asia Pacific expect private networks to account for over 20% of enterprise revenues by 2025.
With the advent of 5G technology, organizations are now exploring the potential benefits of deploying their private networks to cater to specific business needs. While we all are aware of the various potential use cases of private 5G networks, their deployment by the enterprise customers in India, will be strictly driven by evaluating the value proposition and the return on investment (ROI) of each business case. This was derived as an outcome of a GSMA convened roundtable on Private 5G networks in India.
Private 5G networks will largely fall into two deployment models. One will be the large-scale deployments which will be CAPEX heavy and chosen by large enterprises and the other will be a light touch cloud-native deployment, having very low upfront costs and offered as a service.
Few factors which will play a key role in the future development of private 5G networks in India are captured below.
No one can do this alone
The growth of private 5G networks in India, cannot be driven by just one section of the telecom ecosystem. India is very fortunate to have the headquarters of many world-class Global System Integrators (GSIs), who will play a crucial role in the deployment of private 5G networks. The installation of the network at the customer’s premises is where the mastery of system integration will be displayed. This includes integration of hardware, software, network management, defining security policies, reconfiguring levels of access and prioritising edge operations. A good system integrator will also bring specific skill sets needed for separate industry verticals, which can help in designing and installing a custom-built private 5G network.
Testing of use cases
There are numerous use cases which can be potentially developed and deployed at customer premises based on their specific business needs, but pre-testing these use cases in a 5G lab can iron out many teething issues, provide credibility and help in sorting out the initial anxieties of the enterprise. This needs collaboration between the ecosystem players consisting of hardware (devices, sensors, etc.), software (platforms, SCADA), Network Equipment Providers (NEPs), Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), chip makers, etc. MNOs and GSIs can partner together for the creation of such 5G labs which can also be used by startups for testing their proof of concepts (POC). Labs like these can enable MNOs and GSIs to focus on replicable 5G use cases for specific industry verticals and encourage multi-vendor engagements.
Open Systems
As we move from 5G to 5G-Advance and future 6G networks, the private 5G networks also need to keep up with the overall pace of innovation in the telecom ecosystem. India ranks third in the world in the startup ecosystem with over 90,000 startups and 107 unicorn companies worth $30 billion. These startups accelerate innovation in many sectors with the rapid adoption of new emerging technologies like generative AI, web 3.0, metaverse, blockchain and post quantum network cryptography. Open APIs between mobile network operators, solution providers, network equipment providers, and software vendors is the way to go for effective collaboration amongst key network stakeholders and proper actualisation of the true potential of 5G networks. Open networks will drive network innovation. GSMA Open Gateway is a framework of common network Application Programmable Interfaces (APIs) designed to provide universal access to operator networks for developers and cloud providers to deploy services more quickly across operator networks. In a foreseeable future, we can easily imagine a network of networks which will have fixed, mobile and satellite networks working seamlessly together to provide a ubiquitous, high-capacity, and high-speed coverage.
Conclusion
India provides a big opportunity for private 5G networks, with its large base of highly skilled IT workforce, massive scale of large enterprises and a central government which is supportive of technology and innovation. The deployment of Private 5G networks in India is likely to gather momentum from the second half of next year onwards as many industry experts remind us that this is still the first year of 5G in India, and things will only get better from here on, with higher technology adoption. Private 5G networks represent a transformative shift in the way organizations approach connectivity and data transmission. As communication technology continues to advance, Private 5G networks are poised to empower the future of connectivity and drive us into a new era of secure, efficient, and intelligent communication. To learn more about GSMA’s 5G ecosystem platform, please feel free to contact me at dchakraborty@gsma.com.