Mobile private networks: Exploring the CSP opportunity
Enterprises in sectors including manufacturing, transport and utilities are building mobile private networks using LTE or 5G. But where do operators fit in?
Mark Newman, TM ForumDownload Report
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Mobile private networks: Exploring the CSP opportunity
Many communications service providers (CSPs) are still figuring out how to translate excitement about 5G into new business cases and revenue streams. But while they focus on the best way to deploy 5G core networks, how to exploit edge computing and whether open RAN represents a significant new opportunity, enterprises are building their own mobile private networks (MPNs) using LTE and 5G. There is no single, industry-agreed definition of MPNs.
They can include any of the following types of networks:
- Exclusive – networks built for use by a single organization (public or private sector) which may or may not allow roaming onto a public macrocellular network
- Exclusive, plus third parties – networks built for use by a single enterprise that also serves third parties
- Indoor – networks that extend coverage inside a building, for example to provide Wi-Fi coverage, serving the requirements of the owner or tenant of the building and mobile network operators.
- Extensions – networks that are extensions of existing mobile operators’ macrocellular networks
Exclusive and indoor MPNs are emerging first, so we focus on them in this report. However, many of the companies participating in the emerging MPN market are neutral host providers that see MPNs as an extension of their existing businesses. We are not aware of any MPN owners offering wholesale models, although this could be a future scenario. It is entirely reasonable to be simultaneously bullish and bearish about the MPN opportunity for CSPs. On one hand, MPNs represent incremental business because they are built where there is no existing macro network coverage and for applications, mostly IoT, which do not exist. On the other, only a proportion of revenue will go to mobile operators.
Read this report to understand:
- The size of the MPN market and the drivers for building them
- Why transportation, mining, manufacturing, utilities and education are promising verticals and what the main use cases are in each
- Who the technology enablers are
- The role for mobile operators in providing MPNs
- Examples of how enterprises are creating MPN
