5G and network transformation:
five trends to watch in 2025
INSIGHT SPOTLIGHT December 2024
Throughout 2024, we have analysed important To help navigate the year ahead, we are releasing a
developments and innovation spanning all areas of the series of reports that highlight the key trends to watch
telecoms industry and wider digital ecosystem. How will in 2025 and the implications for ecosystem players.
the industry evolve in 2025? Which trends will continue The analysis covers five key areas: 5G and network
to run their course? Which trends will take a new transformation; spectrum; IoT and the wider enterprise
direction? And which will enter the fray for the first market; the digital consumer; and fixed and pay-TV
time? markets. This Insight Spotlight addresses 5G and
network transformation, leveraging results from our
upcoming network transformation survey research.
Analysis
5G-Advanced: balancing use cases and deployment
5G-Advanced, network APIs, cloud technologies, automation and
aspirations AI. This might seem like a contradiction, but nearly the same
The availability of 5G-Advanced standards and solutions has led to number of operators point to open RAN as ‘very’ or ‘extremely’
deployment announcements, with an incredible share of operators important year on year. Going forward, then, the challenge for
planning to launch 5G-Advanced in the near term: three quarters operators will be balancing open RAN interest against other, more
expect to deploy within the next two years based on our latest pressing priorities. 5G-Advanced should help, as most operators
network transformation survey. Regardless of whether suppliers see it as a catalyst for open RAN deployment – though the market
could even address that demand, planned use cases will ultimately still needs to first overcome basic obstacles in terms of security,
play a major role in justifying investment in the technology. performance and integration.
Operators know what they expect 5G’s next evolution to deliver:
network performance, management and efficiency improvements. Security: cross-cutting implications will make it an end-to-
None of these are seen as significantly more important than the end imperative
others. But at the same time, the fact that potential use case
Security is more than just a concern for open RAN deployment.
improvements targeting the B2B and B2C segments are seen by
The telecoms threat landscape is getting increasingly complicated,
operators as less important is directly at odds with strategic growth
as networks are relied upon to carry mission-critical data, high-
imperatives.
profile hacks are becoming more frequent and AI democratisation
threatens to make network attacks and end-user fraud easier to
AI use cases: internal and external tensions will continue
implement. This helps to explain why end-user and network
While operators have been employing AI in their networks for security were listed as the top network-related business priority by
years, recent generative AI (genAI) innovation has driven a operators in our survey. The relationship between security and
renewed focus on how AI can be used in support of strategic open RAN, however, highlights an important point. Because
business objectives: improving customer experience, generating security is critical to network operations and end-user services,
new revenues and delivering opex and capex efficiencies. While operators need to think about its application across the diverse
operators prioritise revenue generation and customer experience technologies they implement, including open RAN, AI, APIs, non-
over opex and capex savings by a four-to-one margin, the biggest terrestrial networks, edge computing and private networks.
impact from genAI is expected to come from internally focused
network operations use cases, including network User experience: coverage and capacity might be
planning/optimisation and predictive maintenance, followed by unexciting, but will continue to matter
internal software development. More reliable networks and faster
User experience ranked as the top criterion by which network
software development will certainly support better user experience.
transformation success is measured. As to how ‘experience’ is
Use of genAI to drive new revenues, however, remains a work in
defined, we can look to the top capabilities deemed necessary for
progress.
executing B2B and B2C objectives: coverage (wide-area and in-
building), data speeds and network performance visibility. Against
Open RAN: momentum will continue, with 5G-Advanced
the backdrop of new services seen as a telco growth vector, a
keeping it top of mind
focus on more fundamental capabilities does suggest less of an
There has been noticeable momentum building for open RAN in innovation mindset and more of a concentration on capabilities
2024, including major operator commitments and supply-chain such as massive IoT, ultra-reliable low-latency communications or
diversification progress on the solution supplier (e.g. Ericsson) and positioning support. This highlights that the ‘basics’ are what
silicon (e.g. Qualcomm) fronts. And yet, while our network operators still focus on, with implications for how future 5G-
transformation survey identified open RAN as a top technology Advanced and 6G decisions will be made.
priority in 2023, it fell precipitously in 2024, settling in behind
© 2024 GSMA Intelligence @GSMAi www.gsmaintelligence.com
5G and network transformation: five trends to watch in 2025
Implications
Mobile operators Network infrastructure suppliers
• Don’t forget standalone – Since 5G first launched, it was • Make messaging about tech maturity and integration
understood that 5G standalone (SA) would be important for capabilities – Across all priority network technologies, the
delivering on the technology’s full promise, especially in most common deployment obstacles are technology maturity
support of B2B use cases. Deployments, however, have not and integration into existing networks. For technology
matched early expectations. Today’s focus on 5G-Advanced suppliers, the implication is clear. As new technologies are
is encouraging; it suggests that operators understand the rolled out, messaging must focus on solution maturity and
limits of non-standalone 5G. However, 5G-Advanced does not market readiness, along with ease of integration, potentially
require the deployment of 5G SA and operators cannot afford tied into integration service capabilities.
to let 5G-Advanced plans further delay SA launches.
• Moderate 6G posturing – Current operator thinking about 6G
• Hone 5G-Advanced use cases – Clear use cases are key to is seemingly contradictory. On one hand, operators have high
supporting the deployment of any new technology; without an hopes for the next network generation in terms of both
understanding of what the technology will be used for, deployment timing and what they expect the technology to
investment is difficult to justify. Against this backdrop, the achieve. On the other hand, many would rather that the
broad set of use case priorities for 5G-Advanced is potentially industry talk less about 6G visions while 5G monetisation is
concerning. No clear winners among these suggest a lack of still a work in progress. Network solution vendors may be
defining vision, and a relative lack of focus on B2B and B2C eager to tout their 6G R&D innovations, but aligning with their
services may complicate the return on investment delivery. customers’ interests will require more nuanced messaging
that balances future 6G capabilities without a push on
• Re-evaluate aspirations beyond 5G – It is clear that
accelerated (near-term) timelines.
expectations around 5G evolutions are very optimistic:
operators are planning accelerated deployments of 5G- • Tie coverage and capacity to new tech priorities – Much
Advanced; they see 6G networks arriving well before 2030; like with 6G, broader telco network transformation strategies
and they expect 6G to deliver on a wide array of needs, include some contradictory thinking. A focus on improved user
including new spectrum bands focused on coverage. While it’s experience, for example, results in coverage and capacity
logical to aim for new technologies to deliver on diverse goals being top investment priorities. But at the same time, network
– especially when standards and specifications are getting monetisation and new service development imperatives
finalised – operators also need to be realistic in their require more than just delivering coverage and capacity.
expectations or results will be deemed a failure as soon as Infrastructure suppliers therefore have an opportunity. By
those technologies arrive. making a connection between foundational service
requirements (i.e. coverage and capacity) and new service
opportunities (e.g. ubiquitous and high-capacity IoT support),
vendors can telegraph a way to support forward-looking
growth agendas alongside the basics of reliable service
delivery.
Related reading Author
Open RAN in 2024: why deployments are lagging Peter Jarich, Head of GSMA Intelligence
behind expectations
After a slow start, the rollout of 5G SA networks is set
to accelerate over the next two years
© 2024 GSMA Intelligence @GSMAi www.gsmaintelligence.com
