MWC 2023 | Operators achieve success after 1st round of 5G deployment
Global user penetration rate of 5G in its first three years amounts to that of 4G in its first five years.
Source: Huawei
Huawei has convened the 5G Business Success Summit at this year’s Mobile World Congress (MWC). Peng Song, president of Huawei’s ICT Strategy & Marketing, delivered a keynote speech titled “Diverse Paths to 5G Monetization, Accelerating 5G Business Success”. In his speech, he noted that the achievements made by 5G in its first three years are equivalent to those that 4G made in its first five years, and that leading operators are already celebrating the success of the first round of 5G development, which has instilled a sense of certainty and confidence in the industry. 5G will thus sustain this success if its value can be further unleashed in ToC, ToH, and ToB sectors.
During his speech, Peng noted that the global user penetration rate of 5G in its first three years amounts to that of 4G in its first five years. Operators reporting over 20% 5G user penetration during the first round of deployment have seen significant growth in mobile revenue. In the meantime, devices, content, experience, and business models are diversifying as more operators and partners embrace 5G. This is evidence of a market shift from risk-based to revenue-based decision-making for even more assurance of business success. Huawei found that fast migration of 5G users and traffic is the key: if an operator migrated 30% of traffic to 5G eMBB in three years, it would take less than four years to see ROI. This duration would be even shorter if the operator also deployed FWA and ToB services.
New paradigm of network monetization
5G networks use powerful capabilities to provide differentiated experiences for different users. For example, operators can provide guaranteed downlink bit rates for VIP users and a good experience for uplink services. Operators in China have already begun to explore this new paradigm.
5G FWA: Fiber-like experience
By the end of 2022, 95 operators had commercially launched 5G FWA services for more than 10 million home users. With its fast deployment, good experience, low cost, and high energy efficiency, 5G FWA sunsets old copper lines in developed markets and enables home broadband access in emerging markets. Operators in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa have reported outstanding results.
5G private networks
Peng believes that operators can set up extensive service connections with enterprises through 5G private networks, creating a market space for enterprise digital transformation that is three to ten times larger than the market for private networks themselves. This will also drive the sales of cloud, data center, F5G, and other value-added services. The current 5G ToB private network market outside China is developing rapidly. In 2022 alone, the total number of networks built doubled. This future potential is even bigger.
Peng concluded his speech by adding that 5G is not just about economic value to operators, but also huge social value. Huawei calls on global operators and industry partners to join its GUIDE business blueprint and further unleash the potential of 5G networks from “5Good to 5Great”.
Data support: According to the latest GSMA and GSA statistics, by December 2022, more than 240 5G networks had been put into commercial use worldwide, over 1,700 different types of 5G terminals had been released, and the number of 5G users had exceeded 1 billion. In addition, the ARPU of the world’s top 20 operators had increased by 10%, which is 1% higher than the global baseline.
MWC Barcelona 2023 runs from February 27 to March 2 in Barcelona, Spain. Huawei showcases its products and solutions at stand 1H50 in Fira Gran Via Hall 1. Together with global operators, industry professionals, and opinion leaders, we dive into topics such as 5G business success, 5.5G opportunities, green development, digital transformation, and our vision of using the GUIDE business blueprint to lay the foundation for 5.5G and build on the success of 5G for even greater prosperity.
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