5G services should make downloading everything faster and more convenient for everyone.

But it’s up to businesses to figure out how to monetize it perfectly so that they’re able to provide it to the most people while making as much money as possible.

Let’s look at what’s hot in 5G monetization tactics and how business support systems (BSS) matter here.

The Value Of BSS And 5G Infrastructure

The surviving telecom operators of today were built decades ago, when the world was a totally different place.

No one could have predicted the outlandishly computerized digital economy we live in now. Twenty years ago might as well have been a completely different era in human history, as far as most people are concerned. 

And the BSSs used today by most telecom operators were products of that era, not today’s.

Old BSSs are outdated, monolithic, static, and out of touch.

Why?

Because traditional BSS assumes that operators are nothing more than just connectivity providers with a strong one-on-one relationship with all of their customers.

The billing and order management practices are focused on limited, fixed packages. They’re very rudimentary in their approach.

Traditional BSS is just not built to address the more complex needs of today. A customer that requires a private wireless network has to be routed through the special services division.

Digital storefronts that require network slices or drone inspection solutions simply aren’t possible. This requires a completely different kind of negotiation because traditional BSS cannot handle it.

The Need For Modern BSS

Today’s 5G use cases have too many moving parts because operators need to have plenty of intelligent, secure, and automated networks to move their data around. Resources must be moved around devices, edge locations, and cloud systems to succeed.

And to make this happen, you need seamless applications that are unique and have their own set of KPIs because needs vary tremendously.

To capture value from 5G technology implementation, operators need to move to flexible enterprise-led use cases that can be instantly deployed on the cloud and network sliced across multiple domains in a multi-edge environment.

Operators need to stop focusing on just selling connectivity. That era is long gone. The focus needs to shift towards several components that can be integrated into a complete business application package to create lots of niche services that can satisfy an enterprise’s needs.

BSSs need to allow ecosystem partners to use their tools, combine them with the building blocks they have already put so much effort into acquiring, and reach a tailor-made solution that makes sense for today’s business challenges.

While the old-fashioned way to do this might have been through partnership agreements, the process needs to evolve into something newer. Something different that can take advantage of on-demand, slice-based services with flexibility, speed, and open APIs with use-case-based pricing.

What Comes After 5G Deployment?

The world is firmly on track to make 5G coverage a ubiquitous reality by 2028. The billion-dollar question remains: how do we monetize everything it has to offer?

The rise of 5G applications has the potential to pave the way for a significant shift in how existing operators engage with their current customer bases. Even in terms of rural connectivity. There will definitely be a rise in the amount of network traffic, a huge increase in the number of connected devices, and a new future for automated tools based on virtual and augmented reality.

Current reports on 5G in Asia focus on increased revenues through subscriptions. But what happens when the market is saturated?

Eventually, everyone will have a subscription.

The flexible “as-a-service” style that has recently driven the market will continue to be the best way to monetize new 5G services that appear. This might include everything from personalized gaming packages to drone-based inspections.

Experts like Robbie Kellman Baxter believe that market maturity could backfire in telecom operators’ cases, as legacy selling and packaging connectivity methods may no longer yield returns. 

This is especially important for 5G in India since once a provider has scaled, the biggest challenge for these operators is staying ahead of the market. Over-indexing existing customers is common, leading to many not focusing sufficiently on new customer expectations.

To prevent this, providers can explore new entertainment packages, such as immersive experiences and multiple-party high-definition video conferencing. To handle new scenarios, existing product lifecycle management and configuring pricing and quote solutions will be important.

The Future Of 5G Monetization

The as-a-service model performed admirably well during 4G, but technological limitations held it back since operators were unable to offer differentiated plans based on the different needs and habits of their consumers.

In contrast to this, 5G allows network slicing so that operators can use speed-tiering as one of the major innovation models. 

The buy-a-gigabyte-based model of today might be gone in favor of something that addresses different kinds of internet users. Reports show that users are either neutral at worst or positive about having different speeds for the different needs of different users.

By having a speed-tiered packaging system, operators can upsell existing customers to achieve higher revenues. 

By selling highly personalized and targeted offers to internet users and making sure to frame services as experiences rather than connectivity, stability, speed, and reliability, operators pursuing better B2B2C results might be able to achieve triple or quadruple gains.

Then there is the prospect of offering different packages to consumers with devices. 

As 5G speed and proliferation increase, we will see a rise in autonomous vehicles, wearable healthcare devices, renewable energy solutions, smart safety, and surveillance solutions. 

Each device brings with it a need for greater edge and IoT security across different vertical industries and equipment owners. 

Self-driving cars are by far one of the most anticipated technologies. Traffic infrastructures make use of sensors and tools to monitor roads in real-time and send this data to the cloud. And since self-driving cars have their own sensors and tools, information about each car will also reside in the cloud. And each car transmits information about its surroundings to facilitate the operation of other cars.

This means that massive amounts of environmental and user information rely on low-latency 5G networks. Each part of this needs to be assigned its own slice in the network. 

Operators can prioritize the data transfer of cars over other network traffic. Lane control and priority can thus be segmented to offer new monetization models for car makers and 5G providers.

In addition to this, we have wearable IoT devices for consumers that collect data from patterns around them as well. These users can be informed about air quality, traffic conditions, public transport availability, and occupancy levels as they sit in their self-driving cars.

Certain slices can be allotted for those seeking alternative, scenic routes to their destinations. 5G will benefit from improved city infrastructure, allowing for better decision-making when running a city and planning infrastructure. 

What started as simple use cases for 5G might just end up becoming vital components in the construction of tomorrow’s smart cities. There is a tremendous amount of network slicing possible, so operators must seek to diversify themselves as well to avoid pricing wars. Markets will keep growing over time, after all.