Mobile operators face a range of challenges today from saturation, competition and regulation - all of which are having a negative impact on revenues. The introduction of 5G offers new customer segments and services to offset this decline. However, unlike the introduction of 4G which was dominated by consumer benefits, 5G is expected to be driven by enterprise use. According to IDC, enterprises will generate 60 percent of the world’s data by 2025.
Rather than rely on costly proprietary hardware and operating models, the use of open source technologies offers the ability to commoditise and democratise the wireless network infrastructure. Major operators such as Vodafone, Telefonica and China Mobile have already adopted such practices.
Enterprises will generate 60 percent of the world’s data by 2025
Shifting to open source technology and taking a software defined approach enables mobile operators to differentiate based on the services they offer, rather than network coverage or subscription costs.
This whitepaper from Canonical - the publishers of Ubuntu - will explain how mobile operators can break the proprietary stranglehold and adopt an open approach including:
- The open source initiatives and technologies available today and being adopted by major operators
- How a combination of software defined radio, mobile base stations and 3rd party app development can provide a way for mobile operators to differentiate and drive down CAPEX
- Use cases by Vodafone and EE on successful implementations by adopting an open source approach
