Evolve to a high-performing, programmable network
It is time to move beyond the era of traditional mobile broadband. The breakthrough of high-performing and programmable network capabilities is unleashing a new era of business innovation built around differentiated connectivity and network APIs, opening up new revenue streams. This is not just a network evolution, it’s an industry-wide revolution that will transform what mobile services can enable and how they are monetized. Are you ready for the open network (r)evolution?
Four innovation journeys of the open network (r)evolution
The convergence of AI, cloud and open interfaces continues to spur major advances across today’s mobile networks. This evolution underpins four key inter-connected evolutionary journeys that will lay the groundwork for tomorrow’s business- and operational models.
A network evolution that will transform business model innovation
1. High-performing networks
High-performing networks provide superior performance and energy efficiency, at the lowest total cost of ownership whilst ensuring network security and resilience. Today, 5G deployments are far from complete. The transition to 5G standalone and further densification of 5G mid-band sites is needed to fully scale for new revenue opportunities and new business models. Achieving high performance also means developing and dimensioning networks to deliver the right coverage, capacity, speed, latency, precise positioning, security and resilience that tomorrow’s consumers, enterprises and industries demand. As part of ongoing modernization strategies, the deployment of AI-powered network solutions will play a key role in enhancing and improving network performance, energy efficiency and security posture – while maintaining a lower cost of ownership.
Jump to high-performing networks
2. Programmable networks
Adding programmability to high-performing is a game changer for networks. Programmable networks underpin the evolution towards new business and operational paradigms, enabling new innovative ways to orchestrate, manage and automate service delivery across all network domains. This includes new possibilities to fully program the RAN through rApps to optimize and allocate network resources, as well as enabling AI-powered intent-driven and service-centric networks capable of truly scaling differentiated service models and achieving autonomous operations. Programmable networks will influence the network behavior to achieve a desired business outcome: enabling differentiated connectivity at scale and laying a foundation to meet your goals on the journey to autonomous networks.
Jump to programmable networks
3. Autonomous networks
Autonomous networks are the new operations paradigm, it is a journey that will leverage the capabilities of the programmable network to create zero-touch network life cycle management. Further, the business support systems and the end-to-end orchestration and assurance use the capabilities to facilitate efficient operations, business agility and new monetization opportunities such as network APIs.
Jump to autonomous networks
4. Differentiated connectivity and Network APIs
Differentiated connectivity, enabling the new business paradigm, refers to the ability for service providers to offer multiple levels of connectivity services with deterministic performance, designed to meet distinct and varied needs of emerging consumer and enterprise applications. Network APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) allow developers to easily access valuable 5G network capabilities such as differentiated connectivity, location, security/authentication and network insights to enhance existing applications and develop new ones. As a result, our industry is moving deeper into dynamic pricing models, where the value of network capabilities can be monetized to bring network investment back in line with revenue growth. Engagement and continued collaboration across technology ecosystems will be key to realizing the potential of this emerging platform.
Jump to the network as a platform
The new business paradigm: get set for an entirely different go-to-market
As networks evolve in coming years, traditional best effort service models will no longer keep pace with the increasingly dynamic connectivity demands of future consumer, enterprise and industry markets.
For service providers, this will require a shift in go to market strategy – taking the industry deeper into advanced performance-based and platform business models. Existing mobile broadband (MBB) business models will remain but be joined by new revenue streams that cater to enhanced applications and entirely new markets in entirely new ways. Leading CSPs are already exploring new business models and go-to-market strategies. Today at Ericsson, we’re actively collaborating across innovation ecosystems to make that happen. In doing so, we’re laying the groundwork for your future business.
Learn more about emerging business paradigms
Set your strategy for total disruption
Today’s network evolution takes us into the final and most disruptive phase of 5G.
5G standalone is the starting point for high-performing, programmable networks and a steppingstone into a new technology age driven by cloudification, AI and open network architectures.
From this foundation, new capabilities will be added incrementally through an always-on network evolution that supports more consistent investment paces for new technologies across these disruptive areas.
High-performing networks
The migration to 5G standalone, coupled with network densification in the mid-band and at targeted indoor deployments at key locations, will prepare networks for the full 5G experience.
While 5G standalone lays the foundation, today’s introduction of 5G Advanced will unleash new powerful network features and capabilities that make it possible to further enhance automation, innovation and monetization in entirely new ways.

Quality-led service providers that deliver both excellent network coverage and performance in their market are 3x more likely to retain customers and have 50 percent more customers who plan to upgrade.
Ericsson ConsumerLab 5G Pacesetter report
Continue your journey to high-performing networks
High-performing networks: insights from thought leaders
Programmable networks
Programmable networks enable simplified and adaptive configuration with intents and AI, which in turn enables differentiated connectivity that can be scaled more easily and offered as multiple levels of connectivity services to consumers and enterprises. It also helps to improve network performance and user experience and automate operational procedures supporting CSPs in their journey towards autonomous networks.
Continue your journey to programmable networks
Autonomous networks
Emerging autonomous networks will ensure end-to-end closed loop automation between resource, business and service intents – ensuring business objectives align with resource allocation and assurance.
Continue your journey to autonomous networks
Differentiated connectivity and network APIs
Scaling APIs across global developer ecosystems will be key to capturing the value of new platform business models. The focus in coming years will be to further expand CPaaS exposure into areas such as information about location, device and SIM, as well as Quality on Demand (QoD) offerings that use differentiated connectivity with defined performance levels utilizing the network capabilities.
As the network capabilities evolve and are further enhanced with 6G, cognitive networks and the network compute fabric this will increase the capabilities that can be exposed to continue to feed the API economy and drive innovation in different ecosystems.
Continue your journey to new service models
How to monetize APIs: insights from thought leaders
Built on Advanced silicon, cloud, AI and open interfaces
We are not just building networks, we're defining the future towards cloud and automation, enabling an open and growing ecosystem of innovation and APIs for network capabilities exposure.
The network evolution is enabled by four technology shifts changing the way in which networks will be built and operated. Advanced silicon is a key enabler for advanced capabilities within networks. The cloudification of mobile networks will continue to underpin flexibility and programmability in networks as cloud-native ways of working and life-cycle management are adopted. AI in telecom networks will continue to fundamentally change network operations through enhanced automation, optimization and reduced complexity. Open architectures in 5G continues to move technology boundaries, with open networks and management systems providing developer eco-systems with all the capabilities needed to build new rApps, bringing more network innovation and choice to today’s service providers. Openness on top of networks will continue to create an innovation platform built upon differentiated connectivity and network APIs, enabling the broader ecosystem to capture the full value of mobile networks.