5G opens up $1.8-billion revenue opportunity for telco — Ericsson study

Telecommunication companies in the Philippines should tap into 5G technology’s potential digitalization revenues, which could reach $1.8 billion by 2026, a study by Ericsson showed.
Ericsson Philippines, the local arm of the Swedish mobile telco equipment maker, released details of Ericsson’s 5G Business Potential report in a press event on Wednesday, Aug. 8, as part of the company’s 30th anniversary celebration.
“For the Philippines, in 2026, there will be an anticipated USD 1.8 billion revenue opportunity for telecom operators addressing industry digitalization with 5G technology. The largest opportunity for operator-addressable 5G-related revenues will be in the manufacturing and energy and utilities sectors,” Ericsson said in the report.
In the press event, Ericsson showcased different industry applications of 5G technology. It also used a 5G trial system to demonstrate the technology’s data speed of up to 23 gigabits per second.
“5G will open up new revenue streams for operators as they go beyond being connectivity and infrastructure providers to become service enablers and service creators,” Nunzio Mirtillo, Ericsson’s head of Market Area in South East Asia, Oceania and India, said in a statement.
As the next generation of mobile connectivity, 5G promises blazing fast internet speeds, lower latency (i.e. significantly less or no video playback buffering) and better capacity. Based on the IMT-2020 standard set by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) — the United Nations’ specialized agency for ICT — 5G has a theoretical peak download capacity of 20 gigabits.
Both the country’s telco giants Smart and Globe have announced the roll out of their respective 5G networks. Smart targets to have 5G-ready network by 2020 while Globe said it will deploy 5G next year.
Ericsson said its 5G platform will address the country’s growing data traffic and will enable easier access to multimedia content, such as 4K/8K video streaming and virtual reality/augmented reality. It added that 5G offers ten times lower cost per gigabyte than current 4G networks.
“Ericsson has been a key part of the telecom ecosystem in the Philippines for thirty years, bringing voice and data services to millions of customers in the country. We are the first to market with solutions that enable today’s networks to evolve smoothly to the next generation of technologies. 4G is the foundation of 5G, and Ericsson is well poised to help the operators in the Philippines to transition seamlessly from 4G to 5G,” said Mr. Mirtillo.

Ericsson’s 5G platform comprises the 5G core, radio and transport portfolios, together with digital support systems, transformation services and security. Ericsson has recently expanded its 5G Core System offering with new capabilities to support 5G NR (New Radio) and also enhanced its Distributed Cloud solution. — V. M. Villegas