TELECOM | Businesses in Asia see 5G as critical for digitalization
Decision makers see 5G having biggest impact on corporate applications and virtual collaboration.
SINGAPORE — An American telecommunications networking equipment and software services supplier found that as 5G continues to make headway in Asia, businesses are optimistic about the value it would bring.
In a survey commissioned by Hanover, Maryland-based Ciena revealed that thirty-one percent of respondents from Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines and Japan agree that the biggest impact of 5G lies in the enablement of business transformation and the ability to power more digital applications.
“5G is no longer just hype but a reality as organizations recognize that the real impact is on enterprise applications,” said Anup Changaroth, chief technology officer of Asia Pacific and Japan at Ciena. “As 5G catalyzes digital transformation, sectors from entertainment to healthcare and automotive would rely on applications that require real-time latency. This shift toward edge cloud ensures content and data could be delivered to end-users more efficiently, driving higher quality digital experiences.”
The study was done by independent firm Blackbox Research commissioned by Ciena to conduct a survey of 400 IT and business decision makers at large enterprises (of more than 250 employees) in Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines and Japan in August 2020.
Appetite to invest in 5G
Businesses across Asia remain ready to invest in 5G. Most businesses claim that 5G would have a significant benefit for business use cases, including industrial/corporate applications (30%) and virtual business collaborations (30%) – more so than consumer applications, such as gaming/Esports (15%) or smart vehicles (13%). Also, one in two respondents said their company is willing to allocate up to 15% of their IT budget for 5G implementation.
5G adoption challenges
However, adopting 5G is not without challenges. Almost four in 10 (39%) companies cited the lack of infrastructure as the top barrier, followed by talent and skills shortage (19%). To adopt 5G effectively, the survey found that 87% agreed that it requires having the technology and infrastructure and 70% need an understanding of current network capabilities and gaps.
5G calls for network transformation
With 5G accelerating the adoption of digital applications like robotics and virtual reality, these compute-intensive and latency-sensitive applications would place additional pressure on network capacities. The survey reinforces that 5G-enabled digital transformation would need to go hand-in-hand with networks that could adapt as well as dynamically respond to the ever-changing network demands of an always-on digital economy.
