Four Trends of the Telecom Industry in 2024: Enterprise Private Networks,5G SA, AR, and Automation

Steve Douglas, head of market strategy at Spirent Communications, sees four major trends in the telecom industry in 2024:

1. Enterprise private networks will be the fastest-growing new business area

Private networks were one of the hottest PoC(Proof of Concept) projects last year, and the concept has been proven. Early adopters typically see ROI(Return on investment) within 6 months. Wireless connectivity is powerful when you can customize it for specific throughput, latency, and business needs. Now, more and more organizations want these features and are willing to pay for them. According to a survey by STL Partners, enterprises will pay a premium for private network solutions if telcos can ensure business outcomes under Service Level Agreements (SLAs).

For these reasons, private networks will become a significant source of telecom revenue this year. Telcos can expect early victories in the industrial sector (especially in supply line monitoring and fault detection), government and military deployments, and networks supporting augmented reality/extended reality (AR/XR) applications. Operators will also increasingly bundle private network connectivity with edge computing as a combination offering.

2. Standalone 5G(5G SA) deployments will accelerate

5G SA network deployments grew slowly in 2023. The pace will pick up this year as the market has fully adjusted to the market trend. On the supply side, 5G SA solutions now have a vibrant market that includes 17 network equipment vendors, more than 80 chipset and modem options, and more than 1,400 5G SA-compatible device types. We are also seeing a growing demand from users for next-generation services. New enterprise opportunities, industrial deployments, and the impending exploding AR/XR market will drive operators toward 5G SA. More than 100 commercial deployments are expected to come online by 2025.

3. AR/XR applications become real

People have been talking about the potential of AR/XR for years. In 2024, the conversation becomes about deployment. Because, like 5G SA, the market is now ready for them. Beyond the gaming market, we are also seeing growing demand from enterprises for applications such as virtual training and remote maintenance. For pipeline operators (or utilities, telecommunications, or military forward operating bases), the ability to perform AR assistance repairs eliminates the need to send in specialized technicians, potentially saving them millions of dollars. Meanwhile, on the supply side, the world's largest consumer electronics companies are investing billions of dollars to launch high-end AR/XR headsets at scale. Central government and military initiatives will make the Asia-Pacific region an early leader in XR, but other markets will soon follow.

4. Service providers will leverage new tools for digital transformation

Telecom providers often position themselves as enablers of their customers' digital transformation. This year, many companies will be looking to reinvent the way they operate, starting with automation. Early work will focus on lab integration and network lifecycle processes, driven primarily by machine learning rather than full AI (at least for now). Many service providers will also migrate operations support systems (OSS) and IT workloads to the public cloud to streamline operations and build cloud skills. To improve network quality and resilience, more advanced providers will also turn to network digital twins. Using highly accurate real-time virtual network models, they can thoroughly evaluate these planned changes before implementation and gain new freedom to experiment and innovate.