The roll-out of commercial 5G services in October 2022 marked one of the biggest milestones in the Indian telecom space. However, enterprises across sectors have started exploring the idea of building private 5G networks. According to experts, if organisations set up their own infrastructure for captive 5G networks, they can control a large component of the cost apart from customising their networks as per changing needs. Overall, enterprises in the manufacturing, healthcare, oil and gas, logistics and warehousing, hospitality, mining and education sectors have started exploring use cases of private 5G networks. According to experts, the global private 5G network market is expected to reach $13.92 billion by 2028.
Manufacturing
Despite the concept of Industry 4.0 existing for several years, the transition to smart manufacturing is just becoming a reality thanks to advancements in the private 5G space. 5G private networks give manufacturers the flexibility to tailor and design their networks as per their requirements. Companies can now customise network configurations as well as allocate bandwidth and resources as needed. This flexibility is beneficial for the manufacturing sector as different processes and devices have varying connectivity needs. Private 5G networks are already being tried, tested and deployed in the manufacturing industry. Based on estimates, the smart manufacturing market size is expected to reach $500 billion by 2030.
Healthcare
Private 5G networks also have many use cases in the healthcare space. These networks can be essentially used for operating mission-critical life and health support devices, making security arrangements and monitoring movement of patients at hospitals. For instance, Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital, Seoul deployed a private 5G network to use augmented reality technology to assist surgeons within the premises.
In India, Bharti Airtel and Apollo Hospitals carried out India’s first 5G driven and artificial intelligence (AI) guided co-lonoscopy trial. The trial was conducted using AI on Airtel’s 5G technology with ultra-low latency and high processing capabilities as a result of which colon cancer was detected much faster and with greater accuracy. HealthNet Global, Amazon Web Service (AWS) and Avesha were the other three companies that collaborated in this trial.
Oil and gas
The oil and gas industry supplied 57.4 per cent of the world’s energy in 2021. Even as the world is moving towards renewable and carbon-free methods for energy production, oil and gas continues to power factories, houses and cars. According to a report published by McKinsey & Company, improved connectivity could add up to $250 billion value to the oil and gas industry’s upstream operations between 2020 and 2030. Meanwhile, as per a report by Arthur D Little and Ericsson, the digitally enabled workforce is 8.5 per cent more productive and experiences 48 per cent reduced loss from health and safety incidents when connected through a private network.
Private 5G networks provide high-speed wireless broadband connectivity which fosters industry-wide digital transformation by enabling energy companies to implement new technologies. Various enterprises have started implementing technologies such as augmented reality (AR) to train their employees quickly and make repairs simpler. Origem Energia in Brazil collaborated with Nokia and SC Caprock to deploy private networks at four natural gas plants and associated wells. The network deployment utilised 700 MHz bands and plans to incorporate video surveillance, employee tracking, and health and safety wearables in the future. Currently, the network has over 600 gas wells across 13 municipalities.
Logistics and warehousing
Logistics and warehousing are highly time-sensitive industries as customers seek single-day delivery adding to the pressure to maintain, track and deliver packages efficiently. Private 5G networks have the potential to revolutionise the logistics and warehouse sector, by providing faster and more efficient processes. Private 5G helps in solving the security issue along with pro-viding low latency, high bandwidth, and multiple device connectivity with flawless network flow. It provides enhanced connectivity with better speeds and low latency, stronger security than regular public 5G networks as it can be customised according to client requirements, and seamless functioning of autonomous vehicles, robots and drones, as well as removes the need for wired network connections which can be expensive to install and maintain. One prime example of the requirement for private 5G networks is the impact the blockage of the Suez Canal had. With over 12 per cent of the global trade affected, it accounted for $9 billion in loss per day. By having real-time communications, faults can be tracked down easily and predictive maintenance can be done on a timely basis, saving billions in cost.
Hospitality
In the hospitality sector, private 5G networks can support both staff and guest networks as well as facilitate applications and services through a mix of wireless connectivity options. According to Analysys Mason, private 5G is being deployed to support the existing Wi-Fi networks. With a greater number of attendees at events, there is a good chance of public cellular networks getting clogged; this challenge is effectively eliminated by 5G. The technology also enables operators to revolutionise their offerings with cutting-edge in-room and cross-facility services. Eccleston Square Hotel is one such example where private 5G networks are being offered to enhance the guest experience. The “smart” rooms in the hotel offer in-room smartphones, electronically adjustable beds and 4K Chromecast which allow the guests to mirror their device to the suite’s smart TVs.
Mining
5G-ready private networks provide the highest level of connectivity, low-latency, and strong performance in high device density environments needed to enable smart mining. They reduce round-trip latency by 95 per cent, providing the high uplink speed required for smart mine use cases. This enables 8K resolution images, and helps in capitalising on extremely efficient image encoding algorithms.
5G networks can also be highly optimised for the internet of things (IoT) use cases in the mining sector, providing low energy consumption, strong security and high device density. Further, in contrast to legacy networks, 5G-ready private networks provide a complete solution for licensed and unlicensed spectra along with seamless cellular vehicle-to-everything (c-v2x) connectivity. This combination of high data volume and low latency can create the business edge needed to move ahead of the competition.
Education
Private 5G networks have several use cases in the education sector. For instance, high-speed wireless network services can be used to connect best faculty and students in the entire campus. These networks can be installed on school buses to track students, and facilitate wireless data transmission from remote sources using telemetry. Meanwhile, students can track the location of their school bus and arrival time. Private 5G networks also enable updating and tracking of records as well as prevent catastrophic security breaches. They lead to modernisation of classrooms and can create experiences that are based on faster-than-ever wireless connectivity. Private 5G can also be used for reliable and secured wireless connections for example, surveillance security cameras, sensors, and access control system communications within the campus that remain safe with continuous network monitoring.
