The Nokia survey found that only 11% of CSPs have sufficient BSS in place to meet the needs of 5G-enabled business models
One of the most pressing questions around 5G is how to monetize it, and according to new research released by Nokia, communication service providers (CSPs) are struggling to find the answer. The results of the survey of 100 CSPs from around the world, said the vendor, suggest that CSPs are behind in having the right software solutions in place to help them over new 5G services and network management tools, like network slicing and increased network flexibility.
More specifically, the survey found that only 11% of respondents have sufficient Business Support Systems (BSS) in place to meet the needs of 5G-enabled business models, and 98% of respondents stated they would have to update their BSS in order to put up-to-date monetization tools in place. Nokia’s Head of Digital Business within CNS Jonah Pransky shared with RCR Wireless News that moving to cloud-native BSS “is becoming increasingly important to ensure greater business agility.”
“This is particularly true when it comes to efficiently monetizing 5G and capturing new revenue streams that 5G makes possible, including differentiated pricing, network slicing, and flexible product offerings, such as IoT and B2B2X,” he continued. “The 5G Standalone [SA] network is built on cloud-native network functions that provide the flexibility and agility to define, create and launch new services faster than ever before. 5G monetization systems, starting with the 5G charging function, need to be based on the same agile technology, or risk becoming a bottleneck in the release of new offers to the market, and ultimately slow the ROI that service providers must see sooner rather than later.”
The survey also found that nearly 70% of CSPs are now considering deploying cloud-based monetization solutions, while two-thirds said they believe that real-time charging is essential for 5G monetization, as it allows CSPs respond quickly to customer demands. For Pransky, this result is promising, as it suggests that service providers understand the need to allow for new service monetization and pricing dimensions, and how the 5G SA topology is critical for ensuring that monetization systems interact effectively with other 5G network functions.
Pransky also indicated that real-time charging is important for 5G-ready monetization systems, but provided a longer view of what capabilities are necessary, including support for open APIs, the enablement of new network-sliced based services easily and efficiently, meeting the CX demands of digital users for simple, transparent digital first commerce and finally, and being designed with no-code configurability.
While CSPs are still behind in their 5G monetization journeys, Pransky said that because the industry is moving away from large software monoliths and towards modular microservices-based applications, there is an opportunity for service providers to take a phased approach to transforming their monetization systems for 5G.
“That means they can begin with the most urgent need, which in this case is the 5G Converged Charging system,” he continued. “There is definitely still time with the roll out of 5G SA accelerating in some regions, but with many still only beginning to prepare for this. The advice [Nokia] would give would be to look for a monetization partner that has actual experience implementing 5G Charging in 5G SA networks in order to avoid potential pitfalls and hit the ground running, prepared for what will be necessary for effective monetization.”
