Big business doesn’t trust telcos with 5G, says new research

Tot up how much the world’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) plan to spend on 5G services and telecom operators are looking at a $433 billion opportunity by 2025. Except they’re not, because operators remain fixated on the megalodons of the business world that account for just 1% of all companies.

It’s the latest joint research from Omdia, a sister company to Light Reading, and BearingPoint//Beyond, a management consultancy, and it’s another harsh verdict on telco strategy. Operators in the 2020s just cannot seem to catch a break. They’re trapped in the purgatory of digital transformation, fetching gigabytes for US public clouds or flinging billions at a new technology that will enrich everyone else.

The latest criticism is that operators are simply ignoring a very large chunk of 5G business. Their rationale, according to the research, seems to be that the 1% are the big spenders. Landing a major contract with a pharma or automotive giant probably sounds more lucrative than fishing for tiddlers in the SME pond.

5G sense and sensibility

Unfortunately, the feeling isn’t mutual. While operators are infatuated with big business, corporate types just aren’t interested. A survey carried out by Omdia showed that large enterprises “don’t put CSPs [communications service providers] on their 5G priority list.” And, frustratingly, the SMEs that operators choose to ignore crave CSP company, says Omdia.

To read the complete article, visit Light Reading.