Telcos pivot to services amid private 5G boom

According to GSMA Intelligence, private 5G is no longer just a buzzword and telcos are enjoying high demand for services in key sectors.

Let’s dive a bit deeper into this. The biggest push, it turns out, is coming from the military and defence sector. In fact, operators now see it as the single leading source of demand. This isn’t just a vague trend; we’re seeing it in action.

In Sweden, the armed forces have teamed up with Telia and Ericsson to boost everything from battlefield communications to logistics. Across the Atlantic, Nokia has delivered its tactical private wireless solutions to the US Marine Corps to ensure they have high-speed, secure connectivity even in the toughest conditions.

This requires specialised gear such as portable ‘network-in-a-backpack’ kits and rugged hardware built for harsh environments. There are even new solutions that provide fully secure, end-to-end private 5G services in just a few hours—perfect for military or emergency response situations.

Such deployments show that for these projects to work, global tech firms have to build strong relationships with trusted local partners who know the lay of the land.

It’s a similar story in public safety, where private 5G is becoming the essential backbone for emergency services. When things go wrong, you need a network that is secure, fast, and simply will not fail. We’re seeing this roll out across Europe, like in Finland where the company Erillisverkot is building a mission-critical network for its first responders.

All of this is forcing a change in mindset for telcos. Telecom operators are realising they can’t just be the company that provides a signal anymore. 61% of them now say their primary goal is to become a full-on digital transformation partner for their clients. They want to help build entire private 5G ecosystems for things like public safety, healthcare, and smart city services.

Of course, this ambition gets tricky. If you want to use new tech like drone-assisted emergency response, the rules and regulations need to catch up to make it possible.

So, what’s the engine driving this big shift? Unsurprisingly, a lot of it comes down to the explosion in AI. As more businesses start using generative AI, they’re creating mountains of data that needs to be handled securely and instantly. A survey in the report finds that while 86% of businesses are using generative AI, only a third are using it extensively. That gap is where private 5G fits perfectly, providing the on-site connectivity services that heavy-duty AI needs.

One impressive example of this is the collaboration between Verizon and Nvidia. They’ve developed a solution that brings Verizon’s private 5G together with Nvidia’s AI platform, allowing businesses to run demanding AI workloads right there on their own premises.

All of this means that the telcos are having to adapt their whole game plan. They are increasingly becoming managed service providers.

Vodafone, for instance, has gone into the UK’s Harwell Science and Innovation Campus and built a private 5G network to provide services for everyone there, including the European Space Agency. It’s a similar story in India, where Ericsson just won a major contract to manage a huge range of services for Bharti Airtel, including their private networks.

The key to winning for these operators is focusing on security. When asked what makes them a key partner, the number one answer from operators was “expertise in providing secure solutions”. Businesses want private 5G networks because they are more secure, and operators who make that a core part of their services are the ones who are going to succeed.

(Photo by Annie Spratt)

See also: SoftBank selects Ericsson for major 4G and 5G network upgrades

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Tags: 5G, connectivity, Enterprise, gsma, mobile, networks, private 5g, report, research, study, telecoms