Exploring differentiated connectivity
From best-effort to performance-based business models
Key insights
High-performing programmable networks, utilizing 5G standalone (SA) architecture, provide new opportunities for service innovation and performance-based business models.
Differentiated connectivity with predictable performance is made possible by 5G SA network capabilities such as network slicing, radio resource partitioning and enhanced traffic scheduling.
Differentiated connectivity will offer the optimal level of connectivity at the right time for the users’ specific needs.
Digitalization, automation and electrification are transforming the societal and business landscapes. The underlying enabling technologies driving change are cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI) and mobile connectivity. AI technologies are increasingly used to create smart solutions across various sectors, such as transportation, energy, education and everyday life. There is also significant momentum in enhancing mobile connectivity to supplement today’s best-effort[1] mobile broadband to ensure predictable performance levels for specific traffic flows and applications. This is expected to bring economic benefits to business and societies and support governments in their sustainability agendas.
Enabling new services
Differentiated connectivity with predictable performance is made possible by 5G SA network capabilities such as network slicing, radio resource partitioning and enhanced traffic scheduling. The ability to program these capabilities end-to-end, meeting different performance-level needs from consumer and enterprise applications, lays the foundation for a 5G innovation platform that is user oriented for application service providers (ASPs) to comprehend, utilize and pay for when implementing access to specific mobile network requirements. These performance levels could be offered as subscription services or accessed through an API, enabling new business models.
The 5G innovation platform, combining predictable performance with network APIs, will empower ASPs to create enhanced applications that will accelerate the digitalization of business and society.
Directing the flow of traffic
In order to streamline the utilization of the 5G innovation platform by ASPs and foster the development of new innovative services, wireless data transmission performance classes are categorized into four distinct types. Based on this, ASPs can readily allocate traffic flows to the appropriate performance class by answering two simple questions: First, does the application require the transmission of a fixed amount of data, or can it be adapted to the available throughput? Second, is immediate reception of the traffic essential, or can it be buffered?
The answers determine the allocation of traffic flow to the respective performance classes.
Offering services that meet the needs of different customer segments, by delivering the right levels of network performance at a premium, provides new revenue opportunities for service providers. This can foster profitable growth through the provisioning of services with different performance levels.
Performance classes are categorized into four types based on how data is sent (fixed or adaptive) and consumed (immediately processed or buffered before use).
Performance levels provide a framework to differentiate capabilities and characteristics within classes. For example, “Adaptive Buffered” requires >2 Mbps 98 percent of the time, while “Fixed Immediate” needs <90 ms 95 percent of the time.