Nearly 80% of Asia-Pacific operators expect to be able to unlock new revenue opportunities with enterprise customers as a result of the introduction of 5G, according to research conducted by IDC on behalf of Amdocs.
The report also found that 9% of operators plan to offer commercial 5G services for the enterprise sector by the end of the year, rising to 47% by the end of 2020.
The report is based on a survey of senior management from 105 operators across Asia-Pacific, North America and Europe. The APAC markets covered in the survey include India, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Australia and New Zealand.
More than two third of operators in these markets report that their enterprise customers have already expressed interest in 5G, and 80% expect 5G to expand revenue opportunities with enterprise customers, with 43% expecting that the demand will allow them to grow their revenue by 5-10% within the first two years.
The region's operators are meanwhile confident about being first to market with 5G enterprise services, with 63% claiming they will achieve this.
The leading use case for 5G in the enterprise is expected to be a replacement for fixed-line connections, according to nearly all operators surveyed from the region.
“Operators of 5G networks can support mission-critical enterprise communications, with performance backed by service-level agreements,” IDC associate VP of mobility research John Delaney said.
“Our research shows that mobile operators are optimistic about the potential for 5G to support an expansion of their role in the enterprise market.”