Why telcos need to capture the edge opportunity now

This report addresses the gap between operators’ excitement around edge and the ability to monetise these offerings to date. We outline the key strategies operators can pursue to accelerate their go-to-market and build edge revenues in the short term.

Why telcos need to capture the edge opportunity now

This report is based on an interview programme that STL Partners conducted in the months of July and August 2021. The interview programme consisted of 17 interviews: 13 with operators and 4 with enterprises. More information about the telecoms interviewees can be found below.

Figure 1: Interviewee profiles across telcos and enterprises

We asked operators and enterprises about the role of edge computing within their organisations, as well as their overall technology strategy. We investigated the key use cases they were exploring, their view on ecosystem partnerships and their vertical targeting strategy to understand: How can operators capture the edge opportunity?

Table of Contents

Executive Summary……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..2
Telco edge computing is now…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..2
Key takeaway: telcos must take a pragmatic approach going forward …………………………………………..2
Preface…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………5
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….7
Edge progress to date: laying the groundwork…………………………………………………………………………………….8
Building the 5G foundation has been the priority ……………………………………………………………………………..8
Private cellular network solutions are gaining traction …………………………………………………………………..10
Operators have been undergoing an education process………………………………………………………………..11
Clarity around use cases has allowed telcos to more actively engage the ecosystem………………….11
The inflection point: how to capture demand for edge computing through focused strategies ……….13
Vertical strategy………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………13
Horizontal strategy………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….18
Partnerships must underpin any successful edge strategy ………………………………………………………………20
Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….23

Further reading

STL Partners has an extensive catalogue of edge research, which can be found on our Edge Computing hub. These reports provide an overview of edge, an examination of the telco opportunities and challenges in pursuing edge, and the role of 5G in edge. We recommend reading the following articles and reports before pursuing this report to provide sufficient context.

• Telco edge computing: What’s the operator strategy?
• Telco edge computing: Turning vision into practice
• 5G and edge computing: Why does 5G need edge?

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