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Ericsson | A practitioners’ guide to accelerate 5G for business in 2020
Chapter 6: Use places
Why 5G use places can be more valuable than use cases How can you define 5G use cases and associated business models? That’s the million-dollar question. But what if defining a variety of vertical use cases won’t give you the keys to the kingdom? What if it’s something else? A lucrative alternative is to look at use places – places where 5G can deliver material value for a handful of use cases in specific geographical areas with large potential to scale. Find out more, here. The five characteristics of a 5G use place: • They are limited to a small geographical area • There’s potential for 5G to deliver significant value, on top of existing 4G services or as an alternative to fixed and wireless connectivity networks • There are a few strong anchor use cases that can serve as the motivator for initial investment at a given use place with the anchor use cases varying by location and industry • You see medium to long-term potential for additional use cases beyond the most important launch use cases at the first use place • There’s a clear opportunity to scale to similar use places once needs, solutions, benefits and business models are proven for the initial use place. A clear strategy for scaling a successful use case should be built into your go-to-market model from the start Articulating use places based on this concept gives you a powerful complement to your use case analysis and helps understand where to target initial deployments.
Network build-out logic
The use place concept comes from observations on how the early stages of 5G network rollout are different from their 4G siblings. First, network coverage for 4G is omnipresent. As discussed in a previous blog, there are several different 5G spectrum options, for creativity in zones, urban capacity and nationwide coverage. When honing in on 5G high band for creativity, you work with limited reach. This reality makes it relevant to define where 5G will have the most substantial impact both for consumers and businesses.
Second, 5G can increase revenues with many use cases on a horizontal platform. But the combination of a large volume of use cases and large geographical areas that require network coverage introduces a risk for investment decisions. Fewer use cases can carry the initial investments and the smaller areas that need covering can reduce the upfront risk. An alternative approach builds on the network in smaller and well-defined geographical areas that are easier to manage and control. Third, the number of use cases identified where 5G can make a difference is vast. Across the first ten industries we analyzed we found 200 use cases where 5G could make a difference. The appetite for 5G is prevalent across a variety of industries. Therefore, communication service providers need to decide where to start building 5G, especially when it comes to places where high. band makes a big difference and there’s real inspiration for future investments. The biggest differences are where 5G introduces a powerful, secure and resilient alternative to current wireless solutions – and that are powerful enough to allow businesses to replace wires with 5G where the rigid nature of fixed wires limit a business’ agility.
A land grab in the air
Communication service providers are building out 5G networks quickly and leveraging all spectrum assets when launching 5G services. At the same time, you want to increase clarity around the deployment business case — requiring crisp motivations of where to roll out networks with predictable business outcomes.
