Last week, when AT&T and Verizon announced their earnings, I was asked to be a guest on the TD Ameritrade Network to discuss their future and that of the wireless industry. We discussed the changes, the challenges, and the growth opportunities, and what the world will look like going forward.
During that segment I was asked which companies I thought would be leaders in the wireless revolution. After the interview, I continued to think about this question, and I have added to this list. Let us take a closer look.
To start, it is important to understand that there are many different segments to the wireless industry. Understanding the path of the current growth wave is key for every worker, executive, investor, and customer. It is also important to understand how this industry continues to change, which creates new challenges and opportunities.
There are many different wireless growth waves
There is a growth wave that every company and every product or service rides on. Sometimes their growth curve lasts a long time, other times it’s short, but there is always a lifespan to each.
In general, the wireless growth wave remains rapid and solid. However, different segments, and that means different companies often crest then fall and are replaced by new segments and companies.
This is the natural progression of the industry.
Some companies stick to the one sector they started in. These are the companies with a limited up-cycle. Think Blackberry as a good example.
Other companies continue to transition and continue their growth wave with new product ideas. Think Apple, Google and others.
5G not only transforming wireless, also spreading to other industries
Understanding the difference is key whether you are an investor, employee, executive or competitor.
It is important to understand that 5G is creating a dynamic force which is transforming the wireless industry on many different levels, and in fact many other industries as well.
First, 5G is helping all wireless competitors move forward the same as previous moves to 2G, 3G and 4G.
Second, there is an additional growth opportunity, which is new and helps other companies move into the space with hybrid and private 5G wireless networks using 5G-as-a-service.
Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T public and hybrid wireless services
Growth is moving in both directions of the public wireless and private wireless networks. In fact, it is also moving toward the hybrid direction as well.
Often companies which provide public wireless services like Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T, also offer hybrid network services.
While these companies offer connections nationwide, they are a shared, public network. That means senior executives don’t get guaranteed access at busy times and the security level is also not as great as is needed.
Hybrid 5G wireless services give the customer more security and better access, without the expense of building and maintaining their own network. These are typically owned and operated by larger wireless networks like Verizon. T-Mobile, AT&T, or they are run by third-party companies who offer services like Betacom, Kore Wireless and others.
Private 5G wireless networks are built and owned by companies for their own use. There are many benefits to this technology. It is the most secure, plus they allow the company to have complete control and rank importance of users for different levels of access and security. These require a higher level of commitment.
There are benefits for each of these different choices. Example, senior executives and researchers in companies can have a priority of security and access when the network gets busy, over that of lower-level employees if they choose a private network.
Qualcomm, Ericsson, Nokia, Huawei, Cisco, Betacom, public, private 5G
Some of the leaders in the public and private 5G wireless network building side include Qualcomm, Ericsson, Nokia, Huawei, Betacom, Boingo, Celona, AWS, ZTE, Cisco, Samsung, Fujitsu and others all working on different parts of the puzzle.
Some of these companies are more limited to certain countries, while others serve the world market. Some are more limited to certain technologies or solutions compared to others as well.
That’s why executives should educate themselves on the variety of choices before jumping in.
5G-as-a-service is a wireless growth segment for enterprises
As the wireless industry continues to grow, it is always changing. Today, 5G-as-a-service is becoming a popular idea among enterprises. This is an important and new slice of the wireless world.
Private 5G wireless providers offers end-to-end managed services offered by companies like Betacom, Boingo, AWS and others. They are contracted with by companies to build and operate their own private 5G wireless networks.
In the case of private wireless networks, the enterprise always remains in control and ownership of their network and data, and they can get unlimited data usage and increased security and protection.
Public, hybrid and private 5G wireless will remain growth sector
The wireless industry remains one of the most important sectors and will remain that way going forward. As it continues to grow, new technologies like 5G are igniting different growth sectors within this industry.
There are many companies, large and small, new and existing who are transforming this space. Remember when wireless started. It was just a cellphone. It only made calls and that was it. Over the last several decades it has expanded to date and become an important industry.
Today, wireless is all about connecting everybody to everything, businesses, consumers, customers, governments and more.
We are living through a transformative era with wireless, similar to when the automobile was created.
As it continues to grow in importance, the need for private and secure communications continues to grow. Changes will continue as the wireless industry continues to move forward over time.
AI, IoT, AR, VR, metaverse, cloud continue to grow using wireless
New technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, metaverse and so much more will continue to demand more bandwidth and security. This is all accelerating the need for private wireless networks.
Wireless, as an industry will continue to show strong growth moving forward. However, the focus will continue to shift.
Leaders in this space are companies like those mentioned above, along with many others, large and small. Some of which you may have heard of and others you may not have. And in fact, there are also many newcomers with new solutions to new problems that continue to emerge.
Any way you slice it, wireless continues to be a real growth engine. Just make sure you stay tuned into where growth in the industry is at any particular point in time, since it is always changing.
Also remember the growth wave, meaning different companies and technologies will rise, crest and fall at different rates, depending on where they are in the cycle. So, keeping track of each in the ever-changing wireless industry is an important piece of the puzzle as well.
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