Widespread Private 5G: Wherefore Art Thou?

You don’t need a Shakespearean soliloquy to recognize that private 5G hasn’t quite lived up to its deployment hype. On the other hand, adoption has been accelerating, driven by enterprise demand for secure, low-latency, and reliable wireless infrastructure. A recent study found that private network investment in the U.S. is forecast to hit $14.2 billion by 2030. And global enterprise investment is projected to reach $6 billion by the end of 2027.

Private 5G represents a significant growth opportunity for communications service providers (CSPs) who can meet the evolving needs of enterprise organizations such as manufacturers, logistics companies, healthcare providers, and utilities. One of the chief obstacles to adoption is ensuring a sufficient return on investment (ROI), given the complexity of implementation.

Hurdles to Private 5G Deployment

Although private 5G offers considerable advantages—such as flexibility not achievable with wired hardware-based networks, greater speed, and better coverage—the complexity of local environments can be a significant hurdle to deployment. Because enterprise facilities, including warehouses, ports, factories, and airports, contain and are surrounded by existing infrastructure, line-of-sight 5G signals can be interfered with. Because these signals can’t penetrate certain building materials, businesses may face coverage gaps and reduced performance indoors. This, in turn, may require a denser network of cells, more-complex mapping of coverage areas, and greater network orchestration in order to assure needed performance.

Adding to the challenge of implementing and managing these complex environments, there is a shortage of skilled network engineers who are sufficiently versed in 5G network construction and cybersecurity. This has led many enterprises to consider outsourcing to systems integrators, service providers, and others to help build and manage private 5G networks. This approach may be appealing because it will likely be cheaper and more cost-effective over the long term. An external provider should have a deeper understanding of the latest technologies that can be used to automate network performance and prevent service disruptions.

The Critical Role of Visibility in Delivering Performance

As enterprises and CSPs look to deploy private 5G, ensuring performance and a quality customer experience will be essential. Given the complexity of network domains and cloud ecosystems, they will need end-to-end visibility to assure service-level agreements (SLAs) are being met. Putting in place visibility solutions at the outset of deployment will provide the insights and intelligence needed to deliver the required performance and support real-time analytics and automation. Such solutions should be vendor-agnostic and highly automated in order to meet business needs and facilitate constant innovation.

Although implementing a private 5G network may initially appear appealing to many enterprises, it is essential to assess whether such a complex deployment is the most suitable choice for the intended application, timeline, and budget. Private 5G certainly holds the promise of superior technology and improved performance, but setup and maintenance challenges may negate the advantages, particularly for organizations that lack the specialized personnel needed to achieve the desired benefits.

Alternately, enterprises may find a 5G network slice from a carrier or a private 4G LTE network is just as well suited to the task. Such dedicated slices offer many of the same benefits as private 5G networks, including ultra-low latency for sensitive applications. Use of slices or other forms of connectivity, such as private 4G LTE, may prove more cost-effective.

Private 5G continues to hold tremendous promise for enterprises and CSPs. Adoption is set to grow over the coming years. At the same time, enterprises should carefully evaluate their needs and determine what path forward makes the most sense for their connectivity investments.

Learn more about NETSCOUT’s private 5G solution.