Rajeev Suri, President and Chief Executive Officer of Nokia, following a presentation he gave to an audience of media and analysts in advance of this week's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, said that 2019 will be a big year for 5G.
"5G is a truly transformational technology that will improve people's lives, increase productivity and efficiency and enhance the sustainability of our planet," he said in a statement to international media.
Announcing that Nokia has more than 20 5G contracts, and almost 100 5G engagements with customers in every region of the world, he added: "We also believe that there will be a virtuous circle of investment as networks are upgraded to meet the demands of 5G."
Last week, Nokia announced the results of the Nokia 5G Maturity Index, produced in partnership with Analysys Mason, which provides operators with best practices for planning and deploying 5G services.
The industry's first benchmark of 5G operator maturity revealed that two-thirds of operators expect 5G to create new revenue streams, while more than 70% of operators are focused on 5G to help improve existing consumer services. The research also found that those operators most advanced in 5G transformation are focused on six to eight use cases.
Key findings of the Nokia 5G Maturity Index include:
- The most popular 5G use cases identified by operators include: multi-gigabit mobile connectivity, connected cars and autonomous vehicles, tactile internet experiences such as augmented and virtual reality, critical healthcare monitoring, smart city apps like lighting, and smart home services
- Most operators plan a limited commercial launch of 5G services by 2019-20
- Operators planning early 5G commercial launches are the furthest ahead with network virtualization and cloud-based deployments.
- Operators rated as the most advanced in 5G closely align their technology and business development and link digital transformation with 5G.
"It is clear from the first Nokia 5G Maturity Index that operators have plenty of ambition for 5G. Many also understand that its impact will be far stronger if it is deployed hand-in-hand with platform transformation, in order to support a wide array of new revenue streams," said Caroline Gabriel, Principal Analyst from Analysys Mason.
"However, most acknowledge they are uncertain about the actions they must take to achieve their goals. We believe Nokia 5G Maturity Index will be a valuable support as they make these critical decisions, allowing them, for the first time, to plot their own 5G progress against an objectively assessed index, and learn from the best practice of others."
First published in Enterprise Innovation