Tag: private cellular

MWC 2023: You are now in a new industry

The birth of a new sector: “Connected Technologies”

Mobile World Congress (MWC) is the world’s biggest showcase for the mobile telecoms industry. MWC 2023 marked the second year back to full scale after COVID disruptions. With 88k visitors, 2,400 exhibitors and 1,000 speakers it did not quite reach pre-COVID heights, but remained an enormous scale event. Notably, 56% of visitors came from industries adjacent to the core mobile ecosystem, reflecting STL’s view that we are now in a new industry with a diverse range of players delivering connected technologies.

With such scale It can be difficult to find the significant messages through the noise. STL’s research team attended the event in full force, and we each focused on a specific topic. In this report we distil what we saw at MWC 2023 and what we think it means for telecoms operators, technology companies and new players entering the industry.

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STL Partners research team at MWC 2023

STL-Partners-MWC23-research-team

The diversity of companies attending and of applications demonstrated at MWC23 illustrated that the business being conducted is no longer the delivery of mobile communications. It is addressing a broader goal that we’ve described as the Coordination Age. This is the use of connected technologies to help a wide range of customers make better use of their resources.

The centrality of the GSMA Open Gateway announcement in discussions was one harbinger of the new model. The point of the APIs is to enable other players to access and use telecoms resources more automatically and rapidly, rather than through lengthy and complex bespoke processes. It starts to open many new business model opportunities across the economy. To steal the words of John Antanaitis, VP Global Portfolio Marketing at Vonage, APIs are “a small key to a big door”.

Other examples from MWC 2023 underlining the transition of “telecommunications” to a sector with new boundaries and new functions include:

  • The centrality of ecosystems and partnerships, which fundamentally serve to connect different parts of the technology value chain.
  • The importance of sustainability to the industry’s agenda. This is about careful and efficient use of resources within the industry and enabling customers to connect their own technologies to optimise energy consumption and their uses of other scarce resources such as land, water and carbon.
  • An increasing interest and experimentation with the metaverse, which uses connected technologies (AR/VR, high speed data, sometimes edge resources) to deliver a newly visceral experience to its users, in turn delivering other benefits, such as more engaging entertainment (better use of leisure time and attention), and more compelling training experiences (e.g. delivering more realistic and lifelike emergency training scenarios).
  • A primary purpose of telco cloud is to break out the functions and technologies within the operators and network domains. It makes individual processes, assets and functions programmable – again, linking them with signals from other parts of the ecosystem – whether an external customer or partner or internal users.
  • The growing dialogues around edge computing and private networks –evolving ways for enterprise customers to take control of all or part of their connected technologies.
  • The importance of AI and automation, both within operators and across the market. The nature of automation is to connect one technology or data source to another. An action in one place is triggered by a signal from another.

Many of these connecting technologies are still relatively nascent and incomplete at this stage. They do not yet deliver the experiences or economics that will ultimately make them successful. However, what they collectively reveal is that the underlying drive to connect technologies to make better use of resources is like a form of economic gravity. In the same way that water will always run downhill, so will the market evolve towards optimising the use of resources through connecting technologies.

Table of contents

  • Executive Summary
    • The birth of a new sector: ‘Connected technologies’
    • Old gripes remain
    • So what if you are in a new industry?
    • You might like it
    • How to go from telco to connected techco
    • Next steps
  • Introduction
  • Strategy: Does the industry know where it’s going?
    • Where will the money come from?
    • Telcos still demanding their “fair share”, but what’s fair, or constructive?
    • Hope for the future
  • Transformation leadership: Ecosystem practices
    • Current drivers for ecosystem thinking
    • Barriers to wider and less linear ecosystem practices
    • Conclusion
  • Energy crisis sparks efficiency drive
    • Innovation is happening around energy
    • Orange looks to change consumer behaviour
    • Moves on measuring enablement effects
    • Key takeaways
  • Telco Cloud: Open RAN is important
    • Brownfield open RAN deployments at scale in 2024-25
    • Acceleration is key for vRAN workloads on COTS hardware
    • Energy efficiency is a key use case of open RAN and vRAN
    • Other business
    • Conclusion
  • Consumer: Where are telcos currently focused?
    • Staying relevant: Metaverse returns
    • Consumer revenue opportunities: Commerce and finance
    • Customer engagement: Utilising AI
  • Enterprise: Are telcos really ready for new business models?
    • Metaverse for enterprise: Pure hype?
    • Network APIs: The tech is progressing
    • …But commercial value is still unclear
    • Final takeaways:
  • Private networks: Coming over the hype curve
    • A fragmented but dynamic ecosystem
    • A push for mid-market adoption
    • Finding the right sector and the right business case
  • Edge computing: Entering the next phase
    • Telcos are looking for ways to monetise edge
    • Edge computing and private networks – a winning combination?
    • Network APIs take centre stage
    • Final thoughts
  • AI and automation: Opening up access to operational data
    • Gathering up of end-to-end data across multiple-domains
    • Support for network automations
    • Data for external use
    • Key takeaways

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Transport and logistics: The role of private 4G/5G

A deep-dive into the transport and logistics sector

This report is a deep-dive into the transport and logistics vertical for private 4G/5G (P5G) cellular networks. It is intended to be both a specific examination of an important sector of opportunity for P5G and a more general example of the complexity of major industrial sectors, especially campus-based or larger-scale dedicated environments. It also covers opportunities for MNOs, and some of the public 5G angles, with additional references to alternative wireless networks such as Wi-Fi and satellite connectivity.

Often technology product and marketing executives think of industry sectors as monolithic (“finance”, “retail”, “oil and gas”, etc.), typically aligning with familiar industry classification codes. The truth is that each industry has multiple sub-sectors and varied site types, numerous applications, several user-groups, arrays of legacy systems and technology vendors, and differing attitudes and affordability of wireless solutions. This is especially true of transport and logistics, where railway stations share only limited technology or use case overlap with airports, or distribution warehouses.

The transport sector is further complicated by its overlap with the public sector – not only does it constitute an important part of countries’ critical national infrastructure, but in many cases major transport firms have a history of state ownership, or are still owned and run by governments today.

There are also numerous sector-specific regulatory angles, which often translate to conservatism about technology, and a tendency to develop custom solutions and standards. Investment cycles can be very long and sometimes politicised, with assets often expected to be in place for decades. On the positive side, the strategic importance of transport can mean that the sector receives special attention in areas such as spectrum allocations.

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Definition of the transport and logistics sector

There are numerous transport and logistics sub-sectors and site types covered in this report. Although there are some common features and market drivers, there are also clear differences in locations’ physical size and layout, as well as equipment and application platforms, legacy/alternative wireless technologies, regulatory oversight and technology conservatism.

Multiple sub-sectors for transport / logistics vertical

The key domains covered include:

  • Transportation hubs, which refers to sites like ports, airports, stations and railyards. They vary significantly in size.
  • Logistics, which relates to the centralised facilities for shipping, storage and sorting of containers and packages, such as warehouses and fulfilment / distribution centres. It also encompasses the wide-area / global transport of containers, packages and bulk products on trucks, trains and ships.
  • Transport networks including rail networks, metropolitan transit and light-rail systems, and road networks.

There are also often hybrid sites, such as FedEx’s huge logistics hub sites next to Memphis and Indianapolis airports.

In addition, there is also significant overlap with various other sectors, such as major manufacturing sites. For instance, aerospace manufacture and maintenance typically occurs at combined factories/airfields such as Boeing and Airbus’ facilities. Similar combined operations occur in ship-building and train production. Mining, steel and cement companies may even have their own private rail-lines, from remote sites or industrial zones, to multi-modal transit hubs at ports or cities.

For logistics sites, it should be noted that many facility owners also have large retail networks (such as Costco and Walmart), or other sites such as Amazon’s AWS datacentres. Those ancillary operations and their specific applications are not directly included here.

For metropolitan transit, various transport-related facilities may be under the ownership or control of local government and municipal bodies. Similar overlaps between transport-related sites and government occur for military, public safety and other agencies.

Transport / logistics intersects with several adjacent verticals

Sector trends and drivers affecting private networks

This report is not the appropriate venue for a full analysis of the transport and logistics industry, which is made up of multiple sub-sectors, as discussed above.

However, the demand for private networks for these sectors is ultimately driven by a number of top-level national and global changes, in addition to certain local factors such as political support for new metro transit systems, “free ports” or enterprise zones, or efforts to modernise railway networks.

Broadly speaking, these all create a greater requirement for connectivity, control and information flows – which then translates to more 4G and 5G networks, as well as Wi-Fi, fibre and wide-area network services. There are also various new greenfield infrastructure projects, which lend themselves well to ground-up design of fit-for-purpose communications systems.

Some of the key megatrends spanning all aspects of logistics and transportation include:

  • Automation and robotics: As discussed throughout this report, transport hubs and warehouses are becoming much more automated. Although mechanisation via port cranes, baggage-handling systems and automated guided vehicles is not new, the systems are being enhanced rapidly. In particular, sorting or control systems, robots and other forms of automation are using wireless video cameras for detecting packages, enabling remote-control by tele-operators and many other uses.
  • Data and analytics: Transport and logistics companies are at the forefront of data-rich applications, from digital twins of jet engines and rail locomotives, to optimised scheduling and packaging of goods in fulfilment warehouses. Better-connected equipment, IoT sensors and video input can improve turnaround times, reduce shipment errors, reduce energy consumption and much more. Passenger-led transportation should face fewer delays, more dispersed crowds and improved customer service.
  • Predictive maintenance and asset management: Transport systems are capital-intensive. The cost of downtime for a vehicle – or critical system in a warehouse or airport terminal – can be huge. There is a huge opportunity for using networked information and sensors to enable predictive maintenance – i.e. fixing emergent problems before they become critical, or scheduling regular maintenance when it is needed rather than just based on a generic schedule. For instance, anomalous readings from vibration and temperature sensors can give early warnings of issues. There are also obvious safety benefits in areas such as aviation and maritime fault-diagnosis.
  • Improved employee safety and productivity: There is far less tolerance of industrial accidents than in the past. Using automation and better information, transportation and logistics firms are looking to increase worker productivity at the same time as improving safety. This spans many aspects, from ensuring safe distances between workers and vehicles, to rapid reaction to any incident, plus improved recordkeeping and training. Reliable communication is essential, using both voice (often push-to-talk) and an increasing need for video communications and mobile access to enterprise application.
  • Climate change and decarbonisation: Over the next decade, many transport and logistics businesses will face profound change as the planet heads towards net zero carbon emissions. Ports, airports, distribution centres and other sites are likely to need new electrical sources such as wind and solar, onsite battery storage, maybe hydrogen facilities and fleets of electric (often autonomous) site vehicles and machines. Connectivity will be needed for all of this, plus energy use monitoring, control, data-collection and reporting.
  • Geopolitics, re-shoring and supply-chain resilience: Recent events such as the US-China trade war, the COVID pandemic and the Russia/Ukraine war have highlighted the risks of global (and often fragile) supply chains to disruptive external events. Traffic and passenger levels at many airports fell to 20% of pre-pandemic levels or lower. While demand is now recovering in many places, other issues have emerged as well – from economic fluctuations, to fuel price inflation and staffing shortages. As well as localised production, shipping and logistics will need to be much more efficient, automated and connected in order to re-route shipments, store inventory and deal with new paperwork and compliance requirements.
  • Cybersecurity: Transport hubs and warehouses are part of national critical infrastructure. The rise of automation and cloud-based functions poses security challenges as well as gains from efficiency. Old IT, network and operational systems will be strengthened or retired if they have vulnerabilities, while networks will need extra resilience and redundancy. Wireless networks may be used as backups in case of failure of fibre or other links.
  • New business models and vertical integration: Many transport companies are looking to extend their reach into adjacent industries, or via vertical integration within their own domain. Companies such as FedEx and UPS, as well as eCommerce players such as Amazon, have their own fleets of planes and on- or near-airport warehouse facilities. Rail companies are exploring new mixed use retail and office properties integrated with stations. Some are deploying dedicated energy infrastructure, ranging from solar farms to hydrogen electrolysis. All these facilities may be built as greenfield developments, with the project considering the latest connectivity options for IoT or other uses.
  • Enhanced customer / passenger experience: Both individual travellers and freight shippers have an expanded set of choices for travel and transport of goods. They make decisions not just on price, but also reliability / predictability, as well as up-to-date information about status and disruptions. There are expectations for easy Internet access, online portals for reservation and check-in, use of digital sign-boards onsite, accurate cargo tracking and condition-monitoring, simpler border and customs processes, and safe/secure travel environments. They also expect multi-modal transport to be made easier, with interchanges made more convenient and transparent for both goods and personal travel.

Transport / logistics megatrends and implications for connectivity

Source: STL Partners

Table of content

  • Executive Summary
    • Overview
    • Recommendations for traditional mobile operators
    • Recommendations for transportation operators
    • Recommendations for logistics companies
    • Recommendations for regulators and policymakers
    • Recommendations for vendors
  • Introduction
    • Definition of the transport and logistics sector
    • Sector trends and drivers affecting private networks
  • Use cases for 4G/5G in transport and logistics
    • Scale of transport sites and private networks
    • General use cases for private 5G in transport / logistics
    • Sector-specific issues and use cases for private networks
  • Building and running transport private networks
    • Supply-side evolution
    • Private vs. public cellular networks in transport
    • New service provider classes and delivery models
    • The vendor landscape
    • Regulatory and policymaking considerations
    • Wi-Fi, satellite and other wireless technologies
  • Conclusions and recommendations
    • Conclusion and long-term futures
    • Takeouts for traditional MNOs and telcos

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Enterprise Wi-Fi 6/7 is here to stay: 5G is not enough

Overview of Wi-Fi 6/7 for enterprises

This report is not a traditional analyst report on Wi-Fi covering market segments, shares and forecasts. Numerous peer organisations have a long tradition of quantitative marketing modelling and prediction; we are not intending to compete with them. For illustration purposes, we have used a couple of charts with the kind permission of Chris DePuy from 650 Group presented at a recent Wi-Fi Now conference, during a joint panel session with the author of this report.

Instead, this report looks more at the strategic issues around Wi-Fi and the enterprise – and the implications and recommendations for CIOs and network architects in corporate user organisations, opportunities for different types of CSPs, important points for policymakers and regulators, plus a preview of the most important technical innovations likely to emerge in the next few years. There may be some differences in stance or opinion compared to certain other STL reports.

The key themes covered in this report are:

    • Background to enterprise Wi-Fi: key uses, channels and market trends
    • Understanding “Wi-Fi for verticals”
    • Decoding the changes and new capabilities that come with Wi-Fi 6, 6E and 7
    • How and where public and private 5G overlaps or competes with Wi-Fi
    • CSP opportunities in enterprise Wi-Fi
    • Wi-Fi and regulation – and the importance of network diversity.

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Wi-Fi’s background and history

Today, most readers will first think of Wi-Fi as prevalent in the home and across consumer devices such as smartphones, laptops, TVs, game consoles and smart speakers. In total, there are over 18 billion Wi-Fi devices in use, with perhaps 3-4bn new products shipping annually.

Yet the history of Wi-Fi – and its underlying IEEE802.11 technology standards – is anchored in the enterprise.

The earliest incarnations of “wireless ethernet” in the 1990s were in sectors like warehousing and retail, connecting devices such as barcode scanners and point-of-sale terminals. Early leaders around 2000-2005 were companies such as Symbol, Proxim, 3Com and Lucent, supplying both industrial applications and (via chunky plug-in “PCMCIA” cards) laptops, mostly used by corporate employees.

During the 2003-2010 period, Wi-Fi exploded for both enterprises and (with the help of Apple and Intel) consumer laptops, and eventually early smartphones based on Windows and Symbian OS’s, then later iOS and Android.

The corporate world in “carpeted offices” started deploying more dedicated, heavyweight switched systems designed for dense networks of workers at desks, in meeting rooms and in cubicles. Venue Wi-Fi grew quickly as well, with full coverage becoming critical in locations such as airports and hotels, both for visitors and for staff and some connected IT systems. A certain amount of outdoor Wi-Fi was deployed, especially for city centres, but gained little traction as it coincided with broader coverage (and falling costs) of cellular data.

A new breed of enterprise Wi-Fi vendors emerged – and then quickly became consolidated by major networking and IT providers. This has occurred in several waves over the last 20 years. Cisco bought Airespace (and later Meraki and others), Juniper bought Trapeze and Mist Systems, and HP (later HPE) acquired Aruba. There has also been some telecom-sector acquisitions of Wi-Fi vendors, with Commscope acquiring Ruckus, and Ericsson buying BelAir.

While telcos have had some important roles in public or guest Wi-Fi deployments, including working with enterprises in sectors such as cafes, retail, and transport, they have had far less involvement with Wi-Fi deployed privately in enterprise offices, warehouses, factories, and similar sites. For the most part that has been integrated with the wired LAN infrastructure and broader IT domain, overseen by corporate IT/network teams and acquired via a broad array of channels and systems integrators. For industrial applications, many solution providers integrate Wi-Fi (and other wireless mechanisms) directly into machinery and automation equipment.

Looking to the future, enterprise Wi-Fi will coexist with both public and private 5G (including systems or perhaps slices provided by telcos), as well as various other wireless and fibre/fixed connectivity modes. Some elements will converge while others will stay separate. CSPs should “go with the grain” of enterprise networks and select/integrate/operate the right tools for the job, rather than trying to force-fit their preferred technical solution.

Roles and channels for enterprise Wi-Fi

Today, there are multiple roles for Wi-Fi in a business or corporate context. The most important include:

  • Traditional use in offices, both for normal working areas and shared spaces such as meeting and conference rooms. There is often a guest access option.
  • Small businesses use Wi-Fi extensively, as many workers rely on laptops and similar devices, plus vertical-specific endpoints such as payment terminals. Often, they will obtain Wi-Fi capabilities along with their normal retail business broadband connection from a service provider. This may include various types of guest-access option. Common use of shared buildings such as multi-tenant office blocks or retail malls means there may be a reliance on the landlord or site operator for network connectivity.
  • Working from home brings a wide range of new roles for Wi-Fi, especially where there is an intersection of corporate applications and security, with normal home and consumer demand. A growing range of solutions targets this type of converged situation.
  • Large visitor-led venues such as sports stadia, hotels and resorts are hugely important for the Wi-Fi industry. They often have guests with very high expectations of Wi-Fi reliability, coverage, and performance – and also often use the infrastructure themselves for staff, displays and various IoT and connected systems.
  • Municipal and city authorities have gone through two or more rounds of Wi-Fi deployments. Initial 2010-era visions for connectivity often stalled because of a mismatch between usage at the time (mostly on laptops, indoors) and coverage (mostly outdoors). Since then, the rise of smartphone ubiquity, plus a greater array of IoT and smart city devices has made city-centre Wi-Fi more useful again. Increasingly, it is being linked to 5G small cell deployments, metro fibre networks – and made more usable with easier roaming / logon procedures. Some local authorities’ scope also covers Wi-Fi use within education and healthcare settings.
  • Public Wi-Fi hotspots overlap with various enterprise sectors, most notably in transport, cafes/restaurants and hospitality sectors. Where organisations have large venues or multiple sites, such as chain of cafes or retail outlets, there is likely to be some wider enterprise proposition involved.
  • The transport industry is a hugely important sector for enterprise Wi-Fi solutions. Vehicles themselves (buses, planes, trains, taxis) require connectivity for passengers, while transport hubs (airports, stations, etc.) have huge requirements for ease-of-access and performance for Wi-Fi.
  • Wi-Fi technology is also widely used as the basis for fixed-wireless access over medium-to-wide areas. Sometimes using vendor-specific enhancements, it is common to use unlicenced spectrum and 802.11-based networks for connectivity to rural businesses or specific fixed assets. A new version of Wi-Fi technology (802.11ah HaLow) also allows low-power wide area applications for sensors and other IoT devices, which can potentially compete against LoRa and 4G NB-IoT, although it is very late to the market.
  • Niche applications for Wi-Fi technology also exist, for example backhauling other wireless technologies such as Bluetooth, for in-building sensing and automation. There are also emerging propositions such as using high-capacity 60GHz Wi-Fi to replace fibres and cabling inside buildings, especially for rapid installation or in environments where drilling holes in walls requires permits.

Enterprise Wi-Fi solutions cover a broad range of contexts and uses

Given the range of Wi-Fi enterprise market sectors and use cases, it is unsurprising that there are also multiple ways for companies and organisations to obtain the infrastructure, as well as operate the connectivity functions or services.

Some of the options include:

  • Self-provision: Many large organisations will source, install, and operate their own Wi-Fi networks via their IT and networking teams, as they do for fixed LAN and sometimes WAN equipment. They may rely on vendor or outsourced support and specific tasks such as wiring installation.
  • Broadband CSP: Especially for smaller sites, Wi-Fi is often obtained alongside business broadband connectivity, perhaps from an integrated router managed by the ISP.
  • Enterprise MSP: Larger businesses may use dedicated enterprise-grade service providers for their Internet connections, UCaaS services, SD-WAN / SASE networks and so on. These organisations may also provide on-site Wi-Fi installation and management services, or work with sub-contractors to deliver them.
  • Solution providers: Various IT and OT systems, such as building management systems or industrial automation solutions, may come with Wi-Fi embedded into the fabric of the proposition.
  • Managed Wi-Fi specialists: Especially for visitor-centric locations like transport hubs, Wi-Fi coverage and operation may be outsourced to a third party managed service operator. They will typically handle the infrastructure (and any upgrades), authentication, security and backhaul on a contractual basis. They will also likely provide staff/IoT connections as well as guest access.
  • Network integrators: Enterprises may obtain Wi-Fi installations as a one-off project from a network specialist (perhaps with separate maintenance / upgrade agreements). This may well be combined with fixed LAN infrastructure and other relevant elements. This may also be a channel for hybrid Wi-Fi / private cellular in future.
  • Vertical specialists: Various industries such as hotels, aviation, hospitals, mining and so on will often have dedicated companies catering to sector-specific needs, standards, regulations, or business practices. They may tie together various other technology elements, such as IoT connections, asset tracking, voice communications and so forth, using Wi-Fi where appropriate.
  • In-building wireless specialists: Various companies specialise in both indoor cellular coverage systems and Wi-Fi. Often linked to tower companies or neutral-host business models.

Table of Contents

  • Executive Summary
  • Introduction
    • Structure and objectives of this report
    • Background and history
    • Roles and channels for enterprise Wi-Fi
    • Recent enterprise Wi-Fi market trends
    • Note on terminology
  • The evolution of “Wi-Fi for verticals”
    • Understanding Wi-Fi “verticals”
    • Existing vertical-specific Wi-Fi solutions
    • Wi-Fi in industry verticals – building ecosystems
  • Wi-Fi 6, 6E & 7: Rapid cadence or confusion?
    • Continual evolution of Wi-Fi capabilities: 6, 6E, 7
    • Wi-Fi 7 may be a game-changer for enterprise
    • The long-term future: Wi-Fi 8 and beyond
    • Other Wi-Fi variants: 60GHz and HaLow
  • Where do Wi-Fi and 5G overlap competitively?
    • Does private 5G change the game?
    • Convergence / divergence
  • The political and regulatory dimensions of enterprise wireless
    • 6GHz spectrum
  • CSPs and enterprise Wi-Fi
    • CSPs and large enterprise / industrial Wi-Fi
    • Wi-Fi service value-adds
    • Wi-Fi and edge compute
  • Conclusions

Related research

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