Exploring 5G private network opportunities in Asia Pacific

Realising the private 5G opportunity for operators

A GSMA Intelligence survey found that 16% of operators in Asia Pacific expect private networks to account for over 20% of enterprise revenues by 2025. Connectivity and IoT are expected to account for nearly two thirds of revenues from private networks. However, operators should also explore opportunities in other areas, such as security, professional services and spectrum management.
Furthermore, the changing competitive landscape means that operators will need to develop new expertise and commercial relationships to realise the private 5G opportunity. This report identifies five considerations for operators:

• adding new services on connectivity to enhance value proposition for verticals
• considering open-source solutions for private 5G networks and use cases
• building partnerships within the private 5G ecosystem
• developing testbeds to help verticals explore real-world scenarios
• leveraging the hybrid private network opportunity

Government support is also important; as part of ambitions to become digital nations, governments across the region have outlined plans to integrate digital technologies and services into every sector of the economy. Fast, secure, reliable and low-latency networks will no doubt play a key role in enabling innovative solutions in many sectors, but this will require efficient spectrum management and an enabling environment for the deployment of private networks and the development of use cases to thrive.