{"id":219105,"date":"2025-05-02T15:56:42","date_gmt":"2025-05-02T15:56:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/5g-technology\/operators-tread-carefully-weighing-5g-sa-costs-complexity-payoffs\/"},"modified":"2025-05-02T15:56:42","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T15:56:42","slug":"operators-tread-carefully-weighing-5g-sa-costs-complexity-payoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=219105","title":{"rendered":"Operators tread carefully \u2013 weighing 5G SA costs, complexity, payoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><em>Operators are moving through the gears with 5G SA and 5G-Advanced, balancing cap-ex constraints, operational complexity, and uncertain returns. While slicing, RedCap, and private 5G show promise, most are prioritizing efficiency and targeted enterprise services over big spending \u2013 reflecting the industry\u2019s search for realistic, sustainable monetization beyond consumer markets.<\/em> <em>(Note, this is an excerpt from a new 5G Market Pulse report, available to download for free <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/content.rcrwireless.com\/5g-market-pulse-report-2025?utm_campaign=Dedicated%20Email%20Blasts&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;_hsenc=p2ANqtz--s9eX8uqOUei13f8-rvGl8nYZeARgSKQ7IdqJZy6zUKuNaepUKkXqjRVEsqtFPPD3a989NYzIQaZYB6h6yCE8EsTFy0g&amp;_hsmi=353913570&amp;utm_content=353913570&amp;utm_source=hs_email\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>here<\/em><\/a><em>; the original introduction and previous entries have been published online <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rcrwireless.com\/20250328\/5g\/5g-market-pulse\">here<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rcrwireless.com\/20250409\/5g\/big-5g-problem\">here<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rcrwireless.com\/20250425\/5g\/5g-flops-hits\">here<\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In sum \u2013 what to know:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cautious transition<\/strong> \u2013 operators are shifting gradually to 5G SA and 5G Advanced within tight budgets, avoiding another big capex wave.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Complex choices<\/strong> \u2013 carriers face tangled decisions around SA, cloud, spectrum, and APIs, slowing market progress.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Enterprise gambles<\/strong> \u2013 future revenue hinges on enterprise services like slicing, RedCap IoT, private networks, and NTN.<\/p>\n<p>The point (see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rcrwireless.com\/20250425\/5g\/5g-flops-hits\">previous entryt<\/a> etc) is that spending will not suddenly spiral upwards; operators are not about to gamble the house on niche services on vague promises of incremental returns. \u201cIt is unlikely 5G-Advanced will fuel another major cap-ex cycle. Instead, operators will gradually transition their spending from 5G (SA) to 5G-Advanced within confined cap-ex budgets.\u201d Pongratz cites the example of China Mobile, which plans to reduce its capital expenditure (cap-ex) on 5G by 22 percent in 2024\/25 while also launching 5G-Advanced in 300-odd cities this year. Again; this is because there is no such thing as a sure-thing amid the scattered gambles on 3GPP feature sets in releases 16-through-20. Back to Douglas at Spirent, who picks up both points \u2013 about the empty NSA hype, and the conservatism in the SA casino.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/content.rcrwireless.com\/5g-market-pulse-report-2025?utm_campaign=Dedicated%20Email%20Blasts&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;_hsenc=p2ANqtz--s9eX8uqOUei13f8-rvGl8nYZeARgSKQ7IdqJZy6zUKuNaepUKkXqjRVEsqtFPPD3a989NYzIQaZYB6h6yCE8EsTFy0g&amp;_hsmi=353913570&amp;utm_content=353913570&amp;utm_source=hs_email\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"415\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rcrwireless.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5G-MP1-1024x415.png\" alt=\"5G MP1\" class=\"wp-image-417882\" title=\"Operators tread carefully \u2013 weighing 5G SA costs, complexity, payoffs 1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rcrwireless.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5G-MP1-1024x415.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.rcrwireless.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5G-MP1-300x122.png 300w, https:\/\/www.rcrwireless.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5G-MP1-150x61.png 150w, https:\/\/www.rcrwireless.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5G-MP1-768x311.png 768w, https:\/\/www.rcrwireless.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5G-MP1-1536x622.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.rcrwireless.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5G-MP1-1037x420.png 1037w, https:\/\/www.rcrwireless.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5G-MP1-696x282.png 696w, https:\/\/www.rcrwireless.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5G-MP1-1068x433.png 1068w, https:\/\/www.rcrwireless.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5G-MP1.png 1822w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>He explains: \u201cFirstly, if I\u2019m blunt, the industry should never have gone with [the 5G marketing around] NSA. It was a big mistake. Because it created this sort of halfway house that is now accepted by the market \u2013 where consumers think they\u2019re getting 5G, when they\u2019re only getting a bit of enhanced radio. There aren\u2019t any services around it, really (apart from FWA, maybe RedCap, maybe private 5G). The second thing is the new SA system is complicated. It\u2019s a whole cloud-native service-based architecture. So it\u2019s not just about adopting new technology and skills; it is about the whole operational environment and lifecycle of it \u2013 and how to manage a cloud stack with multiple vendors doing multiple software releases with multiple cadences, rather than just every few quarters. It is a massive change.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Spirent knows; the company is working with over 100 carriers in international markets, testing SA rollouts with 30 of them, at least. He adds: \u201cEven if it is not as big a cap-ex investment as the radio (with NSA upgrades), there is an operational cost down the line that cuts across many departments. Which has slowed down some investments. Plus, moving to full SA has a major impact on spectrum, as well, because you\u2019re not sharing your 4G network anymore. So your 5G network has to be good enough \u2013 or else you could degrade performance by migrating to a pure-5G network without 4G aggregation\u2026 So there are a lot of moving parts to these SA upgrades. But all of the operators are engaged in the process. They all want to do it. They\u2019ve all got the business cases behind it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bolan at Dell\u2019Oro Group is bolder, and goes further to explain the carrier conundrum to shift from NSA to SA, and beyond. Give them a break, he seems to say \u2013 or, at least, understand the minutiae of the sector\u2019s own digital change, which has seen its top-feeders hobbled by choice and indecision. \u201cThey have struggled with many choices,\u201d he says, writing them out for us: NSA versus SA, telco cloud versus public cloud, 5G core versus 4G\/5G core, 4G voice (VoLTE) or 5G voice (VoNR); and then, when they have put it all on black (\u201can SA core on a telco cloud\u201d), they have faced choices between virtual and bare metal servers, and how to containerise cloud-native functions. Even the \u201chype phase\u201d around private 5G has forced them to offer hybrid and\/or edge versions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA digestion period set in,\u201d he reflects \u2013 \u201cas the industry spent millions on enterprise trials\u2026 while enterprises decided whether or not to move forward.\u201d It will happen again, he says, as the market deals with new release 18-plus network features and programming interfaces (APIs) \u2013 and how \/ why \/ when to launch reduced-capability (RedCap) services for mid-range cellular IoT cases, non-terrestrial network (NTN) services for back-woods and high-seas dead-zones, and whatever juiced-up artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI and ML) applications go on top of mobile networks after 2028. \u201cThese are now seen as the latest efforts for operators to figure out how to monetize their investments in 5G,\u201d says Bolan.<\/p>\n<p>But choices lead to questions, he says. When will the mass (enterprise) market bite on private 5G? Will network APIs even scale in the market \u2013 to make 5G-bound apps a \u201ccatalogue item versus a custom item\u201d? Will NTN services be viable \u2013 and shift top-line earnings, anyway? He comments: \u201cThe jury is out on the timing [of all these technologies]\u2026 The industry will go through another digestion period that could take several years \u2013 maybe four or five \u2013 before we see more market growth.\u201d Against such a complex backdrop, of technical upgrades and organisational shifts, and such a dynamic industrial climate, about how to orchestrate digital change against the cadence of a dozen other \u2018vertical\u2019 markets grappling with the same (see <a href=\"https:\/\/content.rcrwireless.com\/5g-market-pulse-report-2025?utm_campaign=Dedicated%20Email%20Blasts&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;_hsenc=p2ANqtz--s9eX8uqOUei13f8-rvGl8nYZeARgSKQ7IdqJZy6zUKuNaepUKkXqjRVEsqtFPPD3a989NYzIQaZYB6h6yCE8EsTFy0g&amp;_hsmi=353913570&amp;utm_content=353913570&amp;utm_source=hs_email\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">last chapter<\/a>, pages 20), operators are left with a bunch of scattered gambles.<\/p>\n<p>So what of these gambles? Which SA features will precipitate new revenues? Which should be relied on, separately or collectively, to shift the needle? Well, guess what; Spirent has a slide (see below), and Douglas has an answer. He puts these accumulator bets into some kind of order, ranking the \u2018most valuable players\u2019 (as per the original football analogy): FWA is the \u2018star player\u2019, as discussed, and 5G RedCap, private\/hybrid 5G and slicing, and 5G vehicle-to-everything (5G-V2X) are \u2018game changers\u2019, with the kind of baller promise to get a result, maybe. Besides, there is a bench of \u2018super subs\u2019: APIs to monetise intrinsic 3GPP features, infrastructure as-a-service (NIaaS) for multi-tenant AI, drone fleets and direct-to-device satellite\/NTN services, and\u2026 AR spectacles, tethered to handsets.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/content.rcrwireless.com\/5g-market-pulse-report-2025?utm_campaign=Dedicated%20Email%20Blasts&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;_hsenc=p2ANqtz--s9eX8uqOUei13f8-rvGl8nYZeARgSKQ7IdqJZy6zUKuNaepUKkXqjRVEsqtFPPD3a989NYzIQaZYB6h6yCE8EsTFy0g&amp;_hsmi=353913570&amp;utm_content=353913570&amp;utm_source=hs_email\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"556\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rcrwireless.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5G-MP-2-1024x556.png\" alt=\"5G MP 2\" class=\"wp-image-417883\" title=\"Operators tread carefully \u2013 weighing 5G SA costs, complexity, payoffs 2\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rcrwireless.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5G-MP-2-1024x556.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.rcrwireless.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5G-MP-2-300x163.png 300w, https:\/\/www.rcrwireless.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5G-MP-2-150x81.png 150w, https:\/\/www.rcrwireless.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5G-MP-2-768x417.png 768w, https:\/\/www.rcrwireless.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5G-MP-2-774x420.png 774w, https:\/\/www.rcrwireless.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5G-MP-2-696x378.png 696w, https:\/\/www.rcrwireless.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5G-MP-2-1068x580.png 1068w, https:\/\/www.rcrwireless.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5G-MP-2.png 1518w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>As an inward looking infrastructure concern, open RAN is a \u2018future game changer\u2019 too, \u201clate to the game\u201d when 5G deals were signed in 2019\/20, but with potential to take share in brownfield refreshes and small-cell densification projects through the second half of the 2020s, plus with private 5G deployments for enterprises and satellite NTN rollouts. Douglas comments: \u201cRedCap is a real priority in a lot of markets. There\u2019s a lot of testing, not just on the device side but on the network side \u2013 including with slices [and SLAs] and so on. But the push is about optimising networks and spectrum, too. RedCap is not some holy grail for new revenue. It is more about consolidating all that legacy cellular IoT stuff. It is more efficient with spectrum, and will free-up high-value bandwidth for other services.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Beyond, the talk in testing is about 5G SA and 5G Advanced for public\/private network roaming, mission-critical networks for first responders (in the US, notably) and railways (in Europe, as GSMR goes end-of-life in 2030), and network APIs and slices \u201cso verticals\u2026 can use their enterprises credentials as part of authorisation mechanisms to integrate more cleanly into their security zones\u201d. Operators are \u201cvery targeted\u201d to drive new revenue growth, reckons Douglas. But which hold most promise?!!! After inevitable hype, followed by some years of anti-hype (by self-proclaimed \u201cslice deniers\u201d; Dean Bubley, take a bow), slicing should be taken seriously, it seems. \u201cThere are auspicious signs,\u201d says Englert-Yang at ABI Research.<\/p>\n<p>He points to successful trials and deployments with governments and enterprises \u2013 in China (consumer\/enterprise) and India (consumer), notably. \u201cFrom these, we see that slicing is a flexible technology that can be combined with IoT, QoS (quality-of-service), FWA, and more for a highly targeted monetization approach that suits each national market.\u201d The FCC has taken a \u201cclearer position\u201d on net-neutrality, he suggests as a point-of-note \u2013 \u201cwhich supports telco investments\u201d. He goes on: \u201cThere is lots of potential. Slicing capabilities are still evolving from static, predefined slices to semi-dynamic slicing with real-time control. This and other advancements like improved mobility will come with 5G Advanced and should support slicing monetization long term.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/content.rcrwireless.com\/5g-market-pulse-report-2025?utm_campaign=Dedicated%20Email%20Blasts&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;_hsenc=p2ANqtz--s9eX8uqOUei13f8-rvGl8nYZeARgSKQ7IdqJZy6zUKuNaepUKkXqjRVEsqtFPPD3a989NYzIQaZYB6h6yCE8EsTFy0g&amp;_hsmi=353913570&amp;utm_content=353913570&amp;utm_source=hs_email\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"516\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rcrwireless.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5G-MP3-1024x516.png\" alt=\"5G MP3\" class=\"wp-image-417884\" title=\"Operators tread carefully \u2013 weighing 5G SA costs, complexity, payoffs 3\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rcrwireless.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5G-MP3-1024x516.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.rcrwireless.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5G-MP3-300x151.png 300w, https:\/\/www.rcrwireless.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5G-MP3-150x76.png 150w, https:\/\/www.rcrwireless.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5G-MP3-768x387.png 768w, https:\/\/www.rcrwireless.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5G-MP3-833x420.png 833w, https:\/\/www.rcrwireless.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5G-MP3-696x351.png 696w, https:\/\/www.rcrwireless.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5G-MP3-1068x538.png 1068w, https:\/\/www.rcrwireless.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5G-MP3.png 1520w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>But all of those things \u2013 apart from FWA, and wearables (and even \u2018healthcare\u2019 wearables fall both sides of the line) \u2013 are enterprise services, surely? In London, Ekudden suggests \u201cthis 5G story\u201d has \u201ctwo vectors\u201d going forward, and presents a slide with them written as new \u2018use cases\u2019 and new \u2018sectors\u2019 (see above). The first starts with FWA, he says, but soon gets into \u201cAR leveraging 5G\u201d (a reference to AI glasses, which we will return to) as a \u201cmass market [event], maybe in 2027. Besides, he flags rising interest in 5G-connected cameras, vehicles, and \u2018other IoT\u2019. The second \u201cvector\u201d is about 5G\u2019s new role in manufacturing, healthcare, logistics, mining, oil and gas, public safety, utilities, rail, defence, airspace\u2026 and, weirdly, satellites, tacked on the end like a \u2018vertical\u2019 market.<\/p>\n<p>The satellite\/NTN \u2018sector\u2019 is a \u201ccomplimentary technology in the stack [which] allows this limitless reach\u201d, he explains. But the message from Ericsson, about \u201chow to grow the global mobile market beyond eight billion subs\u201d, is that most of the vague opportunities that 5G might enable are with enterprises, and not consumers. \u201cEnterprises are adopting 5G\u2026 for performance reasons [or to support] a mobile workforce,\u201d says Ekudden, going on to discuss how 5G is morphing with wireless WAN and private\/hybrid network setups, before putting forecast numbers against the clearest vector-two opportunities, as the Swedish firm sees it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Operators are moving through the gears with 5G SA and 5G-Advanced, balancing cap-ex constraints, operational complexity, and uncertain returns. While slicing, RedCap, and private 5G show promise, most are prioritizing efficiency and targeted enterprise services over big spending \u2013 reflecting the industry\u2019s search for realistic, sustainable monetization beyond consumer markets. (Note, this is an excerpt [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":178680,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12020],"tags":[72186,23934,13594,26968,82548,82547,2397],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-219105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-5g-technology","tag-carefully","tag-complexity","tag-costs","tag-operators","tag-payoffs","tag-tread","tag-weighing"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Operators tread carefully \u2013 weighing 5G SA costs, complexity, payoffs - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=219105\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Operators tread carefully \u2013 weighing 5G SA costs, complexity, payoffs - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Operators are moving through the gears with 5G SA and 5G-Advanced, balancing cap-ex constraints, operational complexity, and uncertain returns. 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