Ericsson said its 5G Readiness Survey 2017 shows that many operators have accelerated preparations for 5G and that trials are being carried out by 78 percent of respondents. It said 28 percent of the respondents expect to deploy 5G next year.
The survey also shows that operators are looking beyond the consumer segment and foresee opportunities in the enterprise and industrial segments. Thomas Noren, head of 5G commercialisation at Ericsson, said 90 percent of respondents in the 2016 survey pointed to consumers as the main segment in their 5G business planning. This year, it is an even split among three segments. Operators have identified opportunities in the consumer segment, with enterprise users, and with specialist industries.
According to the survey, operators consider that the consumer market is becoming saturated. As a result, 5G planning this year is more evenly distributed across specialized industry segments (58 percent), business users (56 percent), and consumers (52 percent).
The top three industry sectors highlighted by the respondents were media and entertainment, automotive and public transport, and medicine and energy/utilities.
A majority believes that the Internet of Things (IoT) will play an important role and that third-party collaboration will be essential.
In terms of 5G monetization, the respondents believe that additional revenue will be generated from increased market share, migration of 4G subscribers, higher prices for new services, and by expansion into new enterprise and industry segments.
The respondents were 50 executives in business and technical areas at 37 operators and were interviewed in July.
