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How telecom companies can accelerate 5G technology adoption in Canada
The emergence of 5G was predicted to unleash a fresh wave of business innovation made possible by blindingly fast speeds and ultra-low latency. This, in turn, was supposed to unlock new revenue streams for Canadian telecom operators, helping to recoup capital investments, fund ongoing network rollouts and offset declines in traditional business lines.
The results so far have fallen short of those expectations. Outside of a few isolated examples, telcos and their business customers have yet to develop and adopt use cases that take full advantage of 5G’s potential.
We see promising opportunities to accelerate this modest pace of adoption. Telecom companies that gain an even deeper understanding of their customers’ business challenges can use their unique connectivity expertise to develop new industry-specific solutions made possible by 5G.
This will require bold and informed decisions to enter into technology partnerships that go beyond low-margin reseller agreements. And it involves rethinking the value you bring to your customers—as well as how you create that value.
From connectivity services to connectivity expertise
Telecom companies provide more than just connectivity services. You also bring connectivity expertise at a time when it’s needed more than ever.
Just as widespread 4G networks let developers create ride-hailing, video chat and augmented reality apps, 5G holds the promise of new business applications powered by the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality and other technologies.
But the complexity of implementing these technologies falls outside most businesses’ core mandate. What’s more, the skilled talent needed to operate the networks these systems require is in short supply.
This creates a compelling managed services opportunity for telecom companies, which have the necessary expertise to provide business connectivity services. It’s a shift from being a connectivity provider into a trusted connectivity partner—one that other businesses turn to when they’re looking to innovate and solve business problems with connectivity solutions.
The private 5G opportunity
Making the final link in the connectivity chain is a potent value-added service that can transform a telecom company from a provider to a partner.
Private 5G networks, fixed wireless access and similar services are particularly important in Canada, where public 5G networks are concentrated in major population centres and don’t always reach the more isolated areas where resource extraction and industrial manufacturing often occurs.
Private 5G networks link a business’s in-house systems to the wider network and provide several benefits over existing connectivity solutions such as Wi-Fi and public LTE networks. These include:
private control and visibility over the network
improved coverage accessibility and quality
protected bandwidth and dedicated spectrum access
embedded security
Importantly, private 5G networks also offer the high speeds and low latency required by the IoT devices and compute-intensive applications that will ultimately drive 5G adoption.
In nearly all cases, telecom companies won’t build the actual devices and applications. But your connectivity expertise uniquely positions your company to lead or work within an ecosystem of vendors and partners to develop these new products and bring them to market.
Private 5G networks: Use cases
Many telecom leaders see the value of working in ecosystems. In our 26ᵗʰ Annual Global CEO Survey, 40% of our Canadian telecom, tech and media respondents said they’re already collaborating with other established companies to create new sources of value.
That’s a great start. Our global research examining differentiators that set apart top-performing companies found that ecosystems are strongly associated with their success. But we believe there’s an opportunity for Canada’s telecom industry to go even further.
Today’s telecom companies need new degrees of industry insights and technological savvy to discern which emerging trends may yield the greatest ROI. Working with a service provider that understands 5G technology, its application to specific industries and that gives you access to an ecosystem of alliance relationships with hyperscalers and other technology companies can accelerate your progress.
We’ve started to see these connections materialize. We also see room for growth, particularly in the transportation, manufacturing and mining sectors, among others. Here are some of the 5G-enabled technologies that we expect to significantly change how those industries operate. We’ve also included examples of sector-specific applications, although several of these solutions can be adapted for different industries.
Automation and artificial intelligence
AI-powered robotics for material induction, sorting and loading in transportation and warehousing
Combining AI, machine learning and advanced wireless robotics to manufacture and test industrial products
Automated drill rigs that move from one mining hole to the next along a predefined path
Benefits: Autonomous material handling increases speed, reduces cycle times, improves space utilization, reduces operating costs and produces less waste through improved quality control.
Benefits: Improved quality, reduced costs, lower production time, increased worker safety and fewer manual interventions.
Benefits: Efficiency improvements from performing repetitive tasks autonomously leads to reduced fuel usage and carbon emissions, as well as better working conditions for mining employees.
Virtual and augmented reality
Augmented reality maintenance, giving technicians superimposed digital information on repairing the transport vehicle in front of them
3D virtual designs of simulated manufacturing assembly line configurations
Simulated mine configurations, featuring different 3D layouts
Benefits: Reduction in human errors, execution time, breakdowns and downtime. This leads to increased productivity, operation speed, compliance and worker safety.
Benefits: New opportunities for remote, real-time collaboration and process training for operators. Additionally, users can identify potentially harmful situations prior to production runs.
Benefits: Improved design quality and increased worker safety from improved training.
IoT and mobile edge computing
Remote freight monitoring on trucks, trains and other vehicles
Condition-based maintenance of manufacturing equipment based on data captured and collected from critical assets
Self-driving mining vehicles used to move materials and gather real-time inventory management data
Benefits: Collecting and sharing information such as temperature, humidity and other metrics can lead to improved customer satisfaction, lower operating costs and reduced instances of spoiled perishable goods.
Benefits: Only performing maintenance when certain indicators show signs of decreasing performance or upcoming failure decreases operating costs, avoids unnecessary maintenance and improves product quality.
Benefits: Autonomous vehicles help mitigate labour shortages, increase productivity and create a safer working environment by reducing the need to enter hazardous areas.
Evaluating 5G opportunities and potential partnerships
Many telecom companies are conceptually familiar with these use cases and the technologies that underpin them. But bringing them to market in a way that creates a competitive differentiation requires new approaches to pinpointing market opportunities, acquiring the necessary technologies and selling the final solution.
The following steps can help you start the process:
Determine where to play. Assess sector and use case attractiveness by size, growth and profit level. Then gauge winnability by existing market position and the position of your competitors to create a list of priority sectors and use cases.
Assess your right to win. Evaluate your priority list by considering the demand for connectivity services as well as the level of sharing across capabilities, customers and sales channels. The closer the use case is to your core, the better your competitive advantage.
Build your go-to-market approach. Look across the value chain to determine the best technology acquisition approach, such as:
partnerships, ideally exclusive relationships that differentiate you from competitors
mergers, acquisitions and other deals, including majority ownership, minority investments and R&D seed funding
build, either internally or through alliances that can create white-label solutions
As you craft an ecosystem strategy, it’s important not to overlook the role the federal government can play. Greater public-sector collaboration, including on 5G network deployment, technology development and regulatory standards, can help Canada’s 5G rollout keep pace with other countries.
Using 5G to build trust and deliver sustained outcomes
Your technical offerings form the foundation of your competitive differentiation. But there’s another valuable factor at play: trust. Telecom companies can build trust with customers and ecosystem partners alike by incorporating cybersecurity safeguards into 5G offerings, including specific measures for operational technologies and software supply chains. You can also earn trust by reducing implementation risks through accurate cost forecasts, project timelines and service agreements.
Working in trusted ecosystems can create a flywheel effect that sustains your ability to deliver outcomes to customers. You gain privileged insights into your customers’ needs and identify capability gaps that, when addressed, create new customer value propositions. This can attract more prospective customers, which provide you with further insights.
The benefits of greater 5G adoption reach beyond the telecommunications sector. These use cases help Canadian companies become more globally competitive, improving their ability to fuel the country’s growth by investing and hiring locally—fulfilling the telecom sector’s role as enablers of Canada’s digital economy.
How can you capture more value from your 5G investments?
Our community of solvers can help.
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