Review of 5G industry-specific networks in 2020: The beginning of a new era

4G changes life, 5G changes society. As the leader of new infrastructure, 5G will not only bring consumers an unprecedented enhanced mobile broadband experience, but also shoulder the important task of enabling the digital transformation of the industry. 5G industry-specific networks are the only way for 5G to go to thousands of industries.

In the past 2020, with the freezing of the R16 standard, the large-scale deployment of 5G SA networks, the continued efforts of operators and cross-industry open cooperation, the development of 5G industry private networks has entered a new stage. 2020 has also become a "critical year" for the development of 5G industry private networks.

5G industry-specific networks are becoming a rigid demand for transformation in thousands of industries

In 2020, 5G was officially selected as the new infrastructure and became the "most beautiful boy" in the new infrastructure. At present, 5G is deeply integrated with artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, cloud computing, big data, edge computing and other technologies, accelerating the transformation of thousands of industries to digitalization, networking and intelligence, and opening a new era of digital economy.

In recent years, with the continuous deepening of enterprise digital transformation, the demand for new industry-specific networks has become increasingly strong. As a key facility for carrying various innovative applications, 5G industry-specific networks have become a rigid demand for the transformation and upgrading of thousands of industries.

A report released by GSMA Intelligence predicts that by 2025, enterprise-level applications will account for 54% of all cellular connections, and enterprise private network deployment is expected to reach 25%-40% from 2023 to 2025.

Market research firm IDC predicts that by 2023, 60% of China's top 1,000 vertical industry companies (such as manufacturing, logistics, etc.) will launch applications based on 5G private networks to ensure data controllability and security.

The three major operators have stepped up their deployment

The year 2020 that has just passed was not only a key year for the large-scale deployment of 5G independent networking, but also a key year for the development of 5G industry private networks. It can be said that 5G industry private networks are getting better and better.

Taking China as an example, the three major operators are strengthening the deployment of 5G industry-specific networks and have clarified corresponding products and services.

In 2020, China Mobile released the "China Mobile 5G Industry Private Network Technology White Paper"; at the same time, China Mobile follows the government and enterprise planning to divide the 5G industry private network networking mode into three levels: premium, exclusive and premium, to fully meet the needs of industry applications, and realize the network following the industry and on-demand network construction. In terms of specific practice, in the vertical industry field, China Mobile focuses on 15 sub-industries such as smart factories, autonomous driving, and smart hospitals, and has created 100 group-level 5G leading demonstration projects and 1,000 provincial-level characteristic projects, and has created many industry firsts with industry partners. For example, last year, China Mobile Jiangsu Company (Jiangsu Mobile) joined hands with Ericsson to realize the first commercial deployment of Ericsson's industrial private network solution in China at the Nanjing factory. The "5G Premium Private Network" deployed at Ericsson's Nanjing factory covers a production area of ​​10,000 square meters. This is the first China Mobile Premium Private Network commercial project in Jiangsu. Currently, a variety of 5G applications have been launched, including "AR remote expert guidance/training and quality inspection, video surveillance, drone warehouse, industrial computer, AGV scheduling system, environmental monitoring, assembly tightening monitoring, machine vision guided assembly, intelligent linear array scanning and forklift informationization".

China Unicom also released the "5G Industry Private Network White Paper" last year; at the same time, China Unicom divides its 5G industry private network into three deployment methods: virtual private network, hybrid private network, and independent private network. In terms of specific practice, for example, Beijing Unicom helped Sany Heavy Industry build a 5G private network system for Sany Heavy Industry Park in the field of 5G+Industrial Internet, enabling Sany Heavy Industry's smart factory to be implemented; successfully completed the construction of Beijing Electric Power Haidian 500kV ultra-high voltage tunnel 5G private network, and took the lead in using 5G private network technology to help Beijing Electric Power collect power quality in real time around the Service Trade Fair for analysis, realizing the first live network service of 5G private network in large-scale important events. Guangdong Unicom, together with Gree Electric and Huawei, carried out the "5G+Industrial Internet" 5G private network transformation project at the headquarters of Gree Electric in Zhuhai, and built and successfully tested the first private network in China based on MEC edge cloud + 5G SA slices in the field of intelligent manufacturing.

China Telecom's 5G industry private network deployment is divided into three modes: Zhiyuan, Bilin, and Ruyi. In response to different industry needs and scenarios, China Telecom's 5G customized network divides 5G industry private network customers into three categories: wide-area priority industry customers, latency-sensitive regional government and enterprise customers, and security-sensitive regional government and enterprise customers, and provides three types of customized network service modes: "Zhiyuan", "Bilin", and "Ruyi". In terms of specific practice, for example, in order to create tools and platforms for digital transformation and upgrading for manufacturing companies in the era of change, and promote the transformation of industry to intelligence, service, and high-end, Tsinghua Unigroup's New H3C Group, China Telecom Suzhou Branch, and Tsinghua Unigroup Cloud Engine Technology (Suzhou) Co., Ltd., jointly created a 5G smart manufacturing production line solution for the new manufacturing industry, and successfully landed in the Tsinghua Unigroup Cloud Engine pilot, becoming the industry's first smart manufacturing demonstration production line to realize independent 5G private networks, and providing an excellent example for reference for the current manufacturing industry to achieve smart transformation with the help of 5G.

From the perspective of 5G industry private network deployment, there are currently three main types: full sharing with the public network, partial sharing with the public network, and independent deployment. China Mobile's Premium, China Telecom's Zhiyuan, and China Unicom's virtual private networks correspond to the "full sharing with the public network" mode; Exclusive, Bilin, and hybrid private networks correspond to the "partial sharing with the public network" mode; Premium, Ruyi, and independent private networks correspond to the "independent deployment" mode.

Although the development of 5G industry-specific networks is gradually getting better, if they want to truly enable the digital transformation of thousands of industries, 5G industry-specific networks still face many difficulties or uncertainties.

Challenge 1: How to break down industry knowledge barriers?

Although the vertical industry is a massive market with huge demand, the industry demand is highly fragmented, personalized, and differentiated. It is also a market with extremely complex demand. Therefore, different industries have different needs, different technical languages, and different industry pain points. This requires operators, equipment vendors, vertical industries, system integrators, and industry developers to adopt a more open attitude, strengthen cooperation and collaboration, further deepen DOICT integration, and work together to carry out cross-industry 5G industry private network product solution innovation, business model practice, project delivery, and operation system construction. Together with partners, we will build a 5G industry private network "circle of friends", promote the digital transformation of the industry, and achieve value co-creation and win-win cooperation.

Challenge 2: Can the business model work?

From the perspective of specific business models, for individual consumer services, 5G billing is mainly based on traffic and speed. In the enterprise industry market, unlike 4G, 5G applications such as autonomous driving, telemedicine and industrial Internet of Things will be highly dependent on high-reliability, low-latency 5G network connections and will need to support massive devices in local scenarios. Therefore, in the future, the service billing method for industry private network users will have a new multi-dimensional and multi-level billing model based on traffic, rate, latency, specific services, vertical industry applications, etc.

Challenge 3: How should the spectrum be divided?

As we all know, in theory, there are two ways for 5G industry-specific networks to enter vertical industries: one is for operators to use 5G network slicing technology; the other is to use dedicated 5G frequency bands for industry users to build their own 5G private networks.

At present, there are different opinions in the industry about the use of dedicated 5G frequency bands to build 5G industry-specific networks. Some experts believe that in the future, 5G industry-specific networks may have more detailed business models. For example, if an industry obtains exclusive 5G frequencies, it may invest in building 5G private networks on its own. However, GSMA recommends that regulators should avoid reserving spectrum for vertical markets in key frequency bands. GSMA believes that this practice will hinder the full release of 5G's maximum utilization efficiency and waste spectrum resources. For example: Due to the geographical limitations of vertical industries, it is impossible to widely use these precious 5G spectrum resources within or between countries, resulting in a waste of resources. At the same time, the fragmentation of spectrum will also lead to a lack of scale and increased industry costs.

In summary, in 2020, 5G industry-specific networks are trying to enter more industries, but there is still a long way to go to enable digital transformation in thousands of industries in the future.