5G networks will be in their infancy in 2020, but the small number of early commercial networks will be in Asia-Pacific that will dominate the first wave, said Strategy Analytics.
Recently, Ericsson, Huawei, NSN, ZTE, etc. announced their focus on 5G.
Also read: Huawei to invest $600 million in 5G research
Strategy Analytics said the fuel for continued innovation will be ever faster, more agile, ubiquitous, virtualized networks and cloud services alongside pervasive energy sensors and ad hoc networks for the Internet of Things (IoT) market.
Also read: MWC 2014: Ericsson to showcase 5G, LTE Advanced CA, LTE Broadcast
The Strategy Analytics report called 2020 Vision: Predictions for Communications Networks, Content and Technology said network architectures built on software-defined networking (SDN) and hybrid self-optimizing networks (SON) will be the focus on telecoms. Next Generation network technology will become fluid as 5G services emerge.
“These new network architectures will help to ‘close the scissor gap’ as falling costs per GB align with the rate of revenue per GB decline. Revenue per GB fell more than twice as fast as costs between 2010 and 2013, but rates of change could equalize towards the end of this decade,” said Sue Rudd, director of Wireless Networks and Platforms.
Spectrum will be king for operators, but it will be harder to keep exclusive control of spectrum real estate as new licensing paradigms take hold.
Andrew Brown, executive director Enterprise Mobility and M2M, said: “The realization of the third industrial revolution will be driven by Cloud computing, Big Data analytics and the consumerization of business services. IoT developments and M2M will create new partnerships with disruptive new business models.”
IoT’s success will depend on ubiquitous energy harvesting and ad-hoc sensor networks. These developments will be under way by 2020; and will eventually transform industrial processes, consumer applications, healthcare and government.
