The global telecom industry has achieved consistent growth over the decades, experiencing innovation in both technologies as well as business models. From phone lines to the introduction of cellular communication in the 1990s, all the way to the internet revolution, 5G providers have been at the forefront of adapting to technological changes of the day to boost their revenue.
All this was going well till the advent of Over-the-Top (OTT) service providers. OTT services like G-Pay, Amazon Prime, and WhatsApp have posed a challenge to revenue streams of service providers. What the telecom companies need is a way to regain their industry position they enjoyed before the rise of OTT platforms. And 5G seems to be the way forward.
The latest Gartner reports suggest that massive deployment of 5G networks will be the game-changer for the global economy, and the telco industry can take advantage of the new trends to reclaim their past glory. In this blog post, we will look at several possibilities that 5G offers to telecom companies seeking to boost their revenues.
5G & Telecommunications
Installing 5G isn’t cheap. And that’s why telco companies are concerned about the return on their investment. Many experts predict that 5G providers can leverage 5G in the enterprise market. Not to mention, the new technology is likely to affect all major industries and pump an estimated USD 4.8 trillion in the global economy through known use-cases! This estimate alone is enough to justify investments in 5G technology.
As companies and consumers understand the benefits of 5G, it will only be a matter of time before we see a mass exodus from Industry 4.0 to the 5th generation. Potential benefits to telco consumers include lower latency, higher capacity, faster bandwidth, increased flexibility, lower costs. More importantly, 5G adoption will create new efficiencies and expedite development in sectors like Artificial Intelligence.
The OTT Challenge
An increasing number of consumers are adopting OTT services, but none of this revenue is going to the telecom operators. That’s ironic because OTT operators rely heavily on the telco infrastructure to deliver their services.
OTT services are replacing some of the services offered by telecom providers (e.g., WhatsApp replacing traditional SMS services). While service providers continue to generate revenue from the use of internet services and data packets transfer, the numbers are not as substantial as previously generated from services like text messaging and international calls.
OTT providers like WhatsApp offer the same messaging and calling quality as core services offered by telecom companies at little or no direct costs. Moreover, these services are easy to install and use.
Employment Opportunities
Industry onlookers estimate that 22 million people will be deployed in the telecom sector by 2035 because of the growth and proliferation of 5G. Software professionals will be positively impacted if the adaption of new technology becomes common.
The demand for software talent is already increasing day by day. Many operators have shifted to the cloud, which is increasing employment opportunities in the data storage realm which can be done easily through 5G with help of fibre cabling.
With a 5G install, firms will be able to establish real-time interactions with their customers and have meetings over the phone or on video calls without worrying about any type of connection problems.
5G installation using fibre cabling and other related processes require skilled and efficient workers. The number of technicians, installers, operators, and developers required would be huge, creating jobs for several people, increasing the revenue and investment overall and a better lifestyle for many.
Augmented Reality & Virtual Reality
Virtual reality is one of the latest technological innovations. It is very popular in the gaming industry. The smooth operation of AR/VR requires high-speed bandwidth which can be easily provided by 5G networks. The widespread of the use of virtual reality and augmented reality would level up the user experience and increase the demand. Currently, the gaming and e-sports industry as a whole is in line for quadrupling their revenues by partnering with a 5G provider.
Automated Vehicles
These are the ones which are self-driven, or by robotic systems. Autonomous vehicles which do not only communicate and connect with other vehicles and the traffic signals, but everything around them, can lead to a significant amount of decrease in traffic congestion, wasting less time, and also would lower the number of road accidents.
Moreover, automated cars can prove to be one of the most significant and potentially beneficial inventions of the decade. These can earn a handsome amount of revenue for the manufacturers of these cars, as its demand would surely be high as many of the businessmen, and the people of the more advanced level of income and modern scientific expertise would appreciate and explore this particular marvel in the transportation industry.
Fibre Cabling
Fibre optic cables are much more effective than wires, as they carry a higher number of signals than ordinary network cables. Fibre-optics are much faster as well. Fibre cabling is the most suitable way for the installation of 5G as stated by many 5G installers. As these are very cost-efficient, and also require particular set equipment and workers, it will play a vital role in generating greater revenue for the fibre cabling sector as the spread of the use of 5G would surely popularise the fibre too.
Finance Sector
The daily updates and trends of the stock exchange can be quickly uploaded with the help of 5G network and its high-speed bandwidth, onto several social media platforms, leading to the fluctuations in the stock markets quickly analysed by the stockholders. Hence the investment in and purchase of the stocks can lead to a huge amount of revenue being generated for the people and firms related to stocks. A difference of millions and billions of dollars can be observed by the advancement of 5G, helping telecom companies and all the other firms to generate higher revenue.
As with the beginning of the new decade in 2020, a pandemic hit the world. As social distancing is one of the very few steps taken to get rid of this virus soon, almost all the work is done in firms, schools, industries, turned to online working.
The need for high-speed internet boosted to another level, as thousands of jobs became dependant on it. Education was taken forward with the help of online learning, causing a lesser amount of distortion in the lives of millions of students studying. To continue with jobs, ‘work from home’ became a necessity.
As 5G provides high-speed data transmission with low latency, it becomes the bases of the continuity of business and trade throughout the world, not only securing the jobs and livelihoods to many but also generating revenue for everyone. This becomes a motivating factor for 5G providers throughout the world to work even harder and faster to make the availability of 5G quick and widespread.
