AT&T Seems to be Seeking 3 Types of Private 5G Roles

AT&T appears to be positioning to supply private 5G networks in three ways: managed private 5G; edge computing and enterprise private 5G that might have AT&T involved in design and implementation. 

It will be a bit of a challenge for all the usual reasons. Enterprise networking is lucrative enough that lots of others are in the business, especially system integrators. 

And the communications service provider portion of the business (access, wide area network) is a relatively small part of the total business, possibly on the order of $16 billion to $12 billion globally. 

Private 5G--unlike traditional local area networking--does require use of “mobile” and therefore “public network” infrastructure, unlike other local area networks including Wi-Fi. 

The ecosystem is easier to visualize in the mid-size business portion of the market, where tier-one telcos might not have too many advantages. 

Channel players such as managed service providers (MSPs) and systems integrators (SIs) are taking more share, Analysys Mason argues. “Meanwhile, channel players such as resellers, retailers and value-added resellers (VARs) that deal with customers on a transactional basis, and are less involved in supporting operational changes at customer organisations, are losing share,” the firm says. 

Smaller businesses buying IT products rely heavily on resellers and value-added resellers, but also often buy direct from infrastructure providers. System integrators and managed service providers also play a role, as do communications service providers. But the point is that, in the smaller business IT services market, most of the activity (buying) is by others in the ecosystem. 

Communications service providers might represent about 10 percent of sales volume. 

source: Analysys Mason 

To be sure, 5G private network managed services, edge computing and implementation services are legitimate revenue opportunities for mobile operators. What remains unclear is the extent of new revenue that can be earned by mobile operators supporting private 5G networks.