Last month I attended an intelligent core session during the 5G Core Summit in Dubai, where operators from different regions shared their latest strategies and achievements for standalone (SA) and 5G-Advanced.

The summit focused on all the important aspects of 5G’s evolution, from networks to AI, use cases for consumers, enterprises and FWA, and the need for monetisation.

The scale of attendees from the mobile industry who joined the summit was certainly an important sign of a growing interest in taking 5G technology to the next level.

After a slow start, momentum for SA 5G rollout is accelerating. At the end of June, 52 operators had launched networks and 87 had announced plans to launch. This means a total of 139 operators across 61 countries worldwide. These 61 countries account for 67 per cent of the total mobile connections worldwide (58 per cent excluding the biggest market, China).

Meanwhile, the mobile industry is increasingly working on 5G-Advanced, building on 3GPP Release-18. Our operator network transformation survey shows some operators are already preparing for commercial launch of 5G-Advanced networks and services. The Middle East is certainly a pioneer, as it was with 5G: nine operators have developed their 5G-Advanced strategies or committed to commercialisation in 2024 and beyond.

Key takeaways
SA 5G and 5G-Advanced are much needed
Despite rapid consumer adoption of 5G in the last five years, with mobile connections expected to have hit 2 billion at end-September, it is fair to say non-standalone (NSA) networks are not delivering a full 5G user experience, while monetisation at scale remains a work in progress for the industry.

For example, GSMA Intelligence’s consumer survey shows 25 per cent of 5G users across eight of the largest mobile markets worldwide are not satisfied with their network experience because NSA has network performance gaps, for example data rates and latencies. In some countries, there is also insufficient coverage.

The ongoing rollout of SA and the arrival of 5G-Advanced promise to give operators a new tool for delivering enhanced network performance and user experience, along with innovative, revenue-enhancing services for consumers and enterprises.

This explains the deep discussions and focus on 5G’s evolution during the summit. Operators including e&, du, China Unicom, AIS Thailand, Globe, DITO, Zain Kuwait, Cell C and Turkcell presented their visions and plans for SA and 5G-Advanced, highlighting business opportunities and challenges.  

The importance of core network intelligence
While the RAN dominates operator capex, most of the incremental value in the 5G-Advanced era will be delivered by core network enhancements.

These include performance enhancements to address new traffic and use cases including interactive or immersive services, greater core network deployment distribution to support traffic and use case requirements, and deterministic performance and embedded intelligence to manage emerging services, for example experience based.

As expected, growing network and cloud integration, and the use of AI in core networks took centre stage during the summit, as they are both critical to delivering better network and customer experiences.

Huawei introduced the 5G-Advanced intelligent core network, highlighting how the integration of mobile and AI technologies can help operators enhance their operations models and services. From an operations and maintenance (O&M) perspective, the vendor also focused on its enhanced iMaster product which uses digital O&M assistants to provide a unified portal for intelligent interactions and capability scheduling.

Experience a key focus for consumer deployments
Several operators shared their latest strategies and achievements in the consumer market, with a special focus on monetising experience, a trend emerging in various countries.

Our research shows a growing number of operators are focusing on experience-based consumer value and monetisation, including experience and service assurance.

China Unicom, China Mobile, AIS Thailand, Telefonica and some of the Middle East operators are notable examples.

Experience monetisation applies to consumer 5G and FWA use cases, the latter demonstrated by du, a pioneer in the service. From a business model perspective, this involves a shift from traditional traffic-based monetisation models to experience-based, generating revenue through differentiated services.

Establishing real-time consumer experience awareness is key and can be monetised through service plan recommendations in real time. Core Network Intelligence is key to achieving experience-based monetisation, using AI, SA and 5G-Advanced to optimise network performance and deliver the desired user experience while providing effective service assurance.

Digital transformation for enterprises
Building new core network capabilities, including those delivered by private networks, to support the digital transformation of enterprises was also a big focus during the summit, with many operators sharing their latest B2B innovations and services, across use cases including automotive, media, manufacturing, logistics and more.

Our research, based on a global survey of nearly 4,200 enterprises across ten vertical sectors and 21 countries, shows enterprise financial spending on digital transformation will account for 9 per cent of enterprise revenue from 2024 to 206, growing to 11 per cent from 2027 to 2030, with 5G as the top area of investment.

This represents an opportunity for the mobile industry to help enterprises advance their digital transformation and a new chance to grow B2B revenue.

Importantly, all the capabilities offered by SA and 5G-Advanced align with what enterprises seek from 5G: enhancing networks’ fundamental features and capabilities around connectivity and security, and unlocking new B2C and B2B services.

Promising outlook for voice
There was also a focus on how advancements in voice technologies are improving the verbal communication experience and a general recognition further investments in VoLTE, VoNR and the emerging 5G New Calling are needed, along with widespread global roaming agreements.

It was interesting to see how 5G New Calling is making progress in China and in the Middle East through Zain Kuwait and e&, and how it is incorporating new capabilities such as UHD, intelligence and interaction which can be monetised through service intelligence, one of the pillars of the 5G-Advanced core network.

While progress on real-time speech translation, a fundamental use case, continues, 5G New Calling will soon feature calling agents which will provide digital assistant services to every individual user.

Voice innovation is much needed, especially with the arrival of AI which will increase the use of human-to-machine voice.

New Calling could add new opportunities to monetise 5G, but wider acceptance of the technology by players including operators, OEMs, chipset and AI companies, is needed to make it a truly global story.

Pablo Iacopino, head of research and commercial content – GSMA Intelligence