5G deployments are underway and telecoms service providers are more focused on network monetisation than ever before. While there is a huge array of potential value-added 5G propositions and services, many are yet to marry promise with reality. But in 2021 5G will move to a new phase, one in which partner-driven services will take centre stage. In many cases, telecoms service providers will leverage 5G to sell services in entirely new domains. Collaboration and shared expertise will be instrumental in ensuring end-users receive services that live up to their expectations.
5G partnerships must inspire credibility and flexibility
Partnerships in 5G are already taking shape. We’ve seen the likes of Microsoft and SK Telecom join forces to launch 5G cloud gaming, while car manufacturer BMW is expected to launch its first 5G-enabled luxury vehicle, the BMW iNext, in partnership with HARMAN Samsung later this year. What’s key here is the end result and the value that these partnerships deliver in terms of a new service or use case. This is of course important for all partnerships, but especially so with 5G as there is even greater impetus on demonstrating both a credible use case, and one that can be delivered and re-engineered at speed, given questions still loom over how the network will be monetised.
The reality is that traditional, long, drawn-out partnering models of “getting to know you”, courtship and then “happy ever after” won’t work in 5G. Partnerships and the delivery of services will need to be much faster, more dynamic and potentially even designed to only last a short time. In fact, there will be numerous partners for service providers to engage with - whether that’s in manufacturing, healthcare or financial services - as each industry’s players explore and test 5G as a route to market for their products and offers.
However, service providers need to be careful and not dither around which services will be the “killer apps”. The truth is, 5G will not have one “killer” application. Each sector will derive their own benefits from the 5G network, whether that be in realising the delivery of a smart factory floor setting, or in telemedicine, or perhaps remote drone management. In a 5G world, service providers must go beyond connectivity to explore new verticals, reaching new customers with new services. It’s critical that service providers create open environments for partners that facilitate spontaneous service experimentation across a breadth of applications and use cases.
5G partnerships in action
Let’s take the example of a hospital that needs to scale up on specialist equipment such as critical monitors. These require specialist cloud-based software and connectivity via an ultra-reliable 5G network slice to a centralised healthcare hub. It’s likely that multiple partners will be needed in this service chain; the cloud-based software provider for the license, the monitor vendor for the hardware linking up to the network, and the service provider for the slice and management of the connectivity and bandwidth. If a distributed medical facility is temporary this might only be needed for a few days or weeks. During that time, some elements, such as night-time reporting may only need to be scaled up intermittently. With the flexibility of 5G, more and more of such partnership-led services can be set up, tested and adjusted overnight.
For service providers to get the most out of these partnerships they need to model themselves as ecosystem enablers. While not required to be experts across a range of verticals, they must be masters of orchestration that enable the partner ecosystem to derive the most value from the network for different use cases. Operating as part of an ecosystem, as opposed to in silos, can greatly reduce time to market, with each partner leveraging their expertise in their area of specialism for the benefit of the use case or service offering, and the service provider overseeing its delivery through the management and optimization of the network.
Service providers are ideally placed to act as ecosystem enablers because of 5G’s increased openness and newly available and more powerful functions such as the Network Exposure Function (NEF). This function controls and exposes more diverse value than ever before, with 5G’s promised improvements in latency, speed, coverage, capacity and density available for bundling via the service provider. In addition, NEF allows these features and capabilities to be bundled further with the help of the massively expanded ecosystem of partners that also now have access network services and capabilities. Of course, service providers will be sitting at the centre of massive amounts of data from this new ecosystem. They must facilitate its transmission in real time for partners to analyse and extract its value to provide the best service to the end user. It’s just as important that service providers offer the transparency and control over the consumption of network resources and communicate this back to their 5G partners.
With 5G, service providers are moving away from being seen as dumb pipe providers. Now is the opportunity for them to extend their breadth of services to inspire new use cases and reach new customers. Partnerships will drive this, and service providers will play a key role in enabling these ecosystems. The most successful service providers will be those that facilitate the rapid roll out and testing of new services and revenue streams, supporting partners with insight into how they can reap the rewards of the network.
