Large-Scale Industry Is Interested In 5G Campus Networks

In the near future the allocation of local 5G frequencies in Germany will start by application procedure. As shown by the Capgemini Research Institute's "5G in Industrial Operations" study, large industrial companies in particular have a keen interest in acquiring such frequencies to build their own campus networks.

5G - crucial for the digital transformation

75 percent of industry executives believe that 5G will be the key factor in their digital transformation over the next five years. They rank 5G technology second in cloud computing (84 percent), ahead of innovation drivers such as automation and artificial intelligence / machine learning.

Industrial companies want to quickly implement 5G

The confidence in 5G's potential is so great that nearly two-thirds of the industrial companies surveyed (65 percent) worldwide plan to deploy the technology within the first two years of availability. Thus, 75 percent of businesses in the UK and Italy, 69 percent in Spain and 68 percent in the US and Norway are seeking implementation within a year or two.

In Germany, however, only 49 percent of the surveyed companies indicate that they want to implement 5G within the first two years of availability. A possible explanation for this is that barely a third (29 percent) of German executives believe that their current connectivity solutions are slowing down their digital transformation initiatives, compared with 44 percent of respondents worldwide.

The largest industrial companies will most likely implement 5G first: 74 percent of companies with annual revenues in excess of $ 10 billion expect to deploy in the first two years, compared to 57 percent with revenues of between $ 500 million and $ 1 billion.

Own 5G license should bring more autonomy and security

Around one third of the surveyed companies intend to apply for their own licenses for industrial use. In Germany, this is 28 percent. Particularly large companies worldwide, with a turnover of more than ten billion dollars, have the greatest interest in their own licenses (47 percent). This is encouraged by the desire for more autonomy and security, in conjunction with concern that telecoms companies are too slow in introducing public 5G networks.

Gunther May, Head of Technology and Innovation, Automation and Electrification Business Unit of Bosch Rexroth AG, says, "As a manufacturer, we closely observe the 5G landscape and believe that having its own license has several advantages. This would allow us to retain full control of our 5G strategy by having the freedom to operate the network either alone or with a telecommunications provider. "

More efficiency through 5G

More than half of the companies justify their investment in 5G by making their operations safer (54 percent) and more efficient operations and cost savings (52 percent worldwide). This goes along with the expectation that 5G will help or enable use cases such as real-time edge analysis, video surveillance, distributed production remote control, AI-enabled or remote-controlled movements, remote augmented reality / virtual reality, etc. improve.

"The 5G network is just the infrastructure used by value-creating applications. The starting point for successful and profitable use of 5G must therefore be industry-specific and differentiating use cases. For a successful implementation of 5G applications, companies should therefore rely not only on specialized technology.

Pay more for premium services?

Although responding companies are not sure how fast the technology will be delivered by telecom companies, they would be willing to pay more for improved 5G coverage: 72 percent of industrial companies would be more for faster mobile broadband speeds and greater capacity but only 54 percent of telecom providers think so. This willingness of companies to pay for premium services offers telecommunications companies the opportunity to build a highly profitable 5G business model.