As 5G SA gathers pace, Ericsson urges telcos to focus on value over volume

That compares to 890 million at the end of 2023. Over that same period of time, 5G SA as a proportion of global mobile subscriptions is expected to increase from 10.5% to 38.4%, while average monthly smartphone data consumption will grow to 40 GB from 17.2 GB. By the end of the decade, 80% of total mobile data traffic will be carried by 5G networks.

With an increasing number of customers connecting to more capable and configurable networks – and consuming ever more data – Ericsson is once again calling on the industry to adopt a different approach to marketing its wares.

"Service differentiation and performance-based opportunities are crucial as our industry evolves," said Fredrik Jejdling, EVP and head of Ericsson's networks division.

"The shift towards high-performing programmable networks, enabled by openness and cloud, will empower service providers to offer and charge for services based on the value delivered, not merely data volume," he said.

The Mobility Report serves up two case studies in T-Mobile US and Finland's Elisa – both of which have rolled out network slicing on their 5G SA networks – as examples for others to follow.

T-Mobile has been exploring various use cases, including a network slice to carry mission-critical data during special events, while Elisa has configured a slice to support stable, high-capacity throughput for users of its premium fixed-wireless access (FWA) service, called Omakaista.

What the Mobility Report doesn't mention is whether these telcos are deriving any outsized monetary benefit from this value-led approach.

A quick look at some recent financials reveals that T-Mobile's postpaid mobile service revenue grew 6% year-on-year in 2023, while over the same period, Elisa's mobile service revenue grew 4.4%.

Putting that into some sort of context, according to GSMA stats, global mobile industry revenues increased by 3.7% between 2022 and 2023. This can't be considered a direct comparison since this covers total revenue, not just service, but it does suggest that T-Mobile and Elisa might just be outperforming the broader industry.

Whether that growth can be attributed to their forward-thinking focus on quality rather than quantity is also not clear – both T-Mobile and Elisa operate in three-player markets, for instance, where downward pressure on prices is not as intense. Nevertheless, in an industry that's struggling to grow its top line, it probably pays to listen to two operators that are managing to do it.

Meanwhile, the other bright spot for operators lately has been FWA, and that looks set to continue, judging by the Mobility Report.

Ericsson predicts FWA connections will reach 159 million this year, up from 131 million in 2023. By 2030, connections are expected to hit 350 million, with 80% carried by 5G networks.

"In four out of six regions, more than 80 percent of CSPs now offer FWA. The number of FWA service providers offering speed-based tariff plans – with downlink and uplink data parameters similar to cable or fibre offerings – has increased from 30% to 43% in the last year alone," said Ericsson.

Indeed, when it comes to FWA, operators have clearly cottoned onto the idea that customers want to pay for the capacity they think they need, rather than sign up to a one-size-fits-all tariff. In an age of 5G SA and slicing, applying this logic to mobile service seems like a no-brainer.