If operators want to make money in the 5G market, they must implement a diversified strategy

The 5G ecosystem is maturing much faster than previous generations, enabling operators’ network deployment and go-to-market strategies to have mass-market appeal and scale in evolving B2C, B2B and B2B2X business models. Strategy Analytics’ latest research report, Global 5G Market Review – Go-to-Market Strategies, reviews the commercial development of 5G to date and provides recommendations to operators on how to build a competitive and differentiated 5G value proposition.

The report’s clear recommendations for operators include:

Network deployments must meet the diverse needs of enterprise and consumer market segments to maximize service adoption and revenue generation. Operators must build 5G networks based on traffic conditions in specific regions.

The combination of low-band spectrum, critical for coverage (and some early launches), and mid-band, critical for a differentiated, high-bandwidth network experience, enables operators to maximize opportunities for early use cases in valuable market segments.

B2B strategies must leverage current business agility and drivers of transformation, while B2C propositions must identify compelling content offers that deliver differentiated 5G experiences and drive adoption.

5G pricing must include the “more and more” element to deliver the potential for higher average revenue per user (ARPU) for B2C, as well as the relevance of 5G service performance characteristics (e.g., low latency) for B2B.

Phil Kendall, Executive Director of the Service Provider Strategies service at Strategy Analytics, said: “It’s easy to dismiss the transformative impact of 5G as hype, but the societal and business changes brought about by the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted the value of high-quality network experiences and the need for enterprises to adopt new operating models. In these cases, flexibility is arguably the killer app for 5G.”

Guang Yang, Director of Service Provider Strategies at Strategy Analytics, added, “Although we are still in the early days of 5G development, 5G smartphone adoption is approaching mainstream as operators price and determine their value proposition to attract the next wave of consumers and enterprise users. As more affordable 5G phones become available, they need to be paired with options for more premium packages and entry-level packages for consumers who buy 5G devices because of promotions or because they like the brand or camera.”