Digitizing Power & Utilities with 5G

A. Amir

Summary Bullets:

• 5G is helping the power and utility sector to better automate some of its legacy systems, infrastructure, and processes.
• 5G will continue to play an important role in helping the utility sector transition to smart grids and drive the industry into new operating models.

The power and utility industry was always a slow adopter of technology, but an old industry is beginning to embrace new ideas as part of the digital transformation journey.  There are many changes behind the scenes.  This is driven by smart grids, access to customer data, new regulation, and dramatic changes to the global energy market, and it encompasses power generation and distribution, a myriad of new competitors (brought on, in part, by new regulation), diversification, and increased usage of alternative energy.  There are also dramatic changes among consumers.  Major consumers of energy such as data center operators are pledging carbon neutrality.  To better compete, utility companies need to transform.  Business objectives like speed to market and operational agility need to balance a strong security posture with regulatory compliance.  As a new technology, 5G has been at the forefront of helping utility companies to lower operating costs, consolidate legacy environments, and be more responsive to the emergence of new market realities.

What Is Driving the Unique 5G Success in China and South Korea?

M. Rogers

Summary Bullets:

• China and South Korea are leading the world in adoption for 5G services on the back of heavy CapEx investment to deliver rapid coverage and next-generation speeds early on from launch.
• Adoption is also being driven by the development of value-added services and use cases for 5G technology in both consumer and enterprise segments.

China and South Korea: Leaders in 5G

5G is now here.  Around the world, operators are in the midst of their network buildouts and device vendors are pushing 5G-capable handsets, tablets, and wearables to the market.  However, two countries stand out in the speed at which consumers and enterprise have adopted 5G services.  According to GlobalData’s mobile broadband forecasts, by the end of 2020, China and South Korea outpaced the world in 5G adoption with 26% and 24% 5G subscription penetration of the population, respectively, compared to the global penetration of 5% at the end of the same period (for more, please see: “Global Mobile Broadband Forecast,” June 25, 2021).  This rapid adoption of 5G is beginning to help operators in these markets grow revenue from mobile services, with overall 2021 mobile service ARPU in China and South Korea expected to rise.