Rather than build out expensive infrastructure across the board, service providers can focus on specific use cases and provide purpose-built networks that meet the business needs for a specific customer.

December 1, 2022

3 Min Read
Private 5G: A game-changer for service providers

Visionary organizations are looking at private 5G for competitive advantage in 2023 and beyond.

The Marines are investing more than $100 million in a private 5G network at their global logistics center in Albany, Georgia. And John Deere has also been profiled for planning private 5G at its factories worldwide.

This is fantastic news for telcos. Rather than build out expensive infrastructure across the board, they can focus on specific use cases and provide purpose-built networks that meet the business needs for a specific customer.

Private 5G as immediate money-maker for a range of use cases

Private 5G can be an immediate, money-making future of 5G technology for telcos and their business and technology partners and customers. Private 5G networks have specific, measurable use cases that can be invested in now – from robotics to industrial IoT in factories and utilities, and "regular" IoT running on consumer-focused devices. For example:

  • A factory switching to robotics could use a private 5G network to make decisions about the quality of parts, of welds, of anything you can capture on video, and then use AI to manage the robots on the assembly line dynamically.

  • A building management company could install private 5G in each of their locations to control access by floor or by room, without the need for security guards on-site.

  • In smart mines, private 5G can facilitate new efficiencies and capabilities, enhanced safety and sustainability. Private 5G networks could allow for secure remote operations, autonomous and connective vehicles such as autonomous haulers and load-haul-dump vehicles, connected workers and predictive maintenance. All of these possibilities would depend on mobile wireless connectivity in an extremely challenging environment.

  • Ports can benefit and become smarter, safer, more productive and sustainable transport hubs with private wireless networks. These networks can enable remote-controlled ship-to-shore cranes and automated guided tractors to realize safer, more efficient dockside crane and vehicle operations. Smarter monitoring of all vehicles and equipment for predictive maintenance can increase efficiency, lower maintenance costs and reduce downtime.

Private 5G networks can deliver the mission-critical reliability, predictable performance, hard-wired security and better coverage and connectivity that all these use cases require. For telcos, private 5G allows them to extend their expertise from both a technology and a technology management perspective because they understand how to manage radio networks. That's what they do.

People + technology = optimized private 5G

When it comes to private 5G networks, the entire use case, end to end, needs to be well understood from a business perspective and then the network designed and built to be cost-effective and easily maintained. To identify smart use cases for private 5G, you need people who have a combination of both business and technical skills. You want the business case to be solid, and then build the technology to meet that need.

And on the technology side, you need optimized network performance, enhanced security and cloud capability. The goal is to eliminate the cost of bespoke equipment and latency resulting from moving traffic to a central processing location.

Private 5G will play a major role in the future across the board from smart warehouses to smart cities.

— Scott A. Walker, VP, Global Partnerships and Americas CSPs, Wind River

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