5G Deployment: How Digital Transformation Can Help CSPs

Digital transformation is more than what businesses like CSPs can offer, however, all parties in B2B arrangements are going through it, and with it, changing customer needs, which CSPs need to adapt to stay competitive. This applies to every player in the series. From manufacturer to consumer. We've taken an overview of how CSPs can make the most of digital transformation, using key market players as examples.

Nowadays, 5G is more than just a trendy word - it's a real thing with significant importance. This is the opportunity that ICT companies can offer to both consumers and businesses to make a difference. The latter, especially recently, are looking for "less is more". All with cost-cutting and focus on high ROI solutions that can present a challenge to ICT market players such as CSPs. Digital transformation seems to be one of the primary global trends that helps vendors meet such needs, new and old.

Collaboration is key;

Indeed, digital transformation does not just happen in a vacuum. It is about the whole. Ecosystem and network of partners working for the benefit of enterprises and ultimately consumers. It would be completely wrong to say that the benefits of 5G deployment can only be realized at the project completion stage which is close to the customers. Working together, Ericsson, Orange, and Atlas Copco have shown that 5G can bring great advantages during the early manufacturing stage.

CSPs are no exception. We saw this in the partnership between Scandinavian CSP Telia and Ericsson. With Telia providing service support as a value-added reseller, Scania's Södertligi truck factory has been extended with 5G and LTE, allowing for massive improvements in their production. During the previous year, Telia, Ericsson, and Volvo CE joined forces to try out the first 5G network for industrial purposes in Sweden. This test, along with the Scania project, was one of the milestones that led to Talia and Ericsson's successful launch of 5G networks in Sweden and Norway last month. This shows that partnerships are fundamental to the success of the 5G ecosystem and will not change in the future.

Adding more value than providing connectivity;

When it comes to the digital change of CSPs (communication service providers), being agile and working together are closely connected. And that means more than just "contact providers" because according to Omedia's ICT Enterprise Insights 2019/20 survey, the market is increasingly saturated with disruptors such as alternative service providers. These ASPs are closing in on CSPs in terms of trust

What CSPs can do to stay under the radar is to become proper Digital Service Providers (DSPs) and as DSPs to take advantage of 5G, the network infrastructure also needs to transform from traditional hardware to software model. Software-defined networking (SDN) is an example of this. Again, collaboration is key in this case – this model requires partners such as service providers and manufacturers who can meet the demands of SDN and, by extension, the demands of users.

Indeed, a healthcare provider has different network and service needs than a factory or financial services provider. There can be no one-size-fits-all, which is where agility comes in for CSPs. This is critical – for the many 5G high-speed capabilities and raw capacity in the above industries and others for use cases, CSPs need to be able to handle. For example, with healthcare, we have recently seen, for obvious reasons, a significant increase in the digitization of the industry. In China, they already have practical examples of using 5G. Even with factories – increasing robotization of production requires high-level communication for safe collaboration between robots and workers. It can be dealt with. 5G As we have seen above in the cases of the Ericsson and Telia partnership, indeed, a high-speed and energy-efficient network, courtesy of CSP, and ICT provided a game changer for Scandinavian industries. When it comes to financial services, the focus is cyber security. It is essential to protect financial transactions, and with the rise of fintech companies, this is becoming more and more common. 5G enables lightning-fast responses to fraud alerts and can power AI that can detect fraudulent transactions. The same issue is of growing concern in the automotive industry thanks to the rise of Internet-enabled vehicles. As we can see, security is also an integral part of the digital transformation of CSPs.

Security;

With 5G, CSPs have access to higher levels of security standards. This is because, due to numerous 5G cross-industry applications and technological advances such as SDN, cybersecurity needs to be at a system-wide level, as entirely new threats emerge.

However, achieving full potential is not possible on its own – we cannot stress the importance of collaboration enough. And this includes cooperation with regulatory bodies, as well. However, cybersecurity is an important issue for most governments around the world, and relevant legislation will have to take into account all aspects of 5G. If a CSP implements it properly, it could be a great case study for lawmakers.

Result;

Certainly, undergoing a digital transformation is like investing in its own right but from the estimates we can see, that 5G-enabled solutions by CSPs can add real value to many industry representatives. However, before investing in 5G capabilities, CSPs should consider how it will benefit their target markets and understand what challenges a 5G deployment might address for them. Rather than developing a one-size-fits-all solution, CSPs should work to address specific customer and industry-specific problems that 5G can solve, and collaboration is key to achieving this. In the future, all service providers must add value to their clients beyond providing services.