The value, strategic or revenue potential of 5G is contingent on developments in related areas including edge computing, internet of things and machine learning. The reason is that the value of edge computing is the enablement of new use cases and applications built on the assumption of ultra-low-latency access to computing resources, often with simultaneous ultra-high bandwidth.
In other cases, 5G networks themselves will require edge computing support to operate the core 5G transport and access networks. So mobile operators will be big and early users of edge computing, for internal purposes.
Also, consider edge computing and 5G as used to support apps on consumer mobile devices. Most of the new use cases and revenue drivers depend on connectivity, but are not directly “owned” by connectivity providers. That being the case, the "value" of 5G is not as great as some think. Most consumer 5G users of smartphones will simply be exchanging a 4G subscription for a 5G account. The amount of incremental revenue will be nil, in many cases.
By 2028, 4G and 5G mobile consumer and residential consumer applications will dominate the edge computing footprint, for example, says the State of the Edge 2020 report. A growing number of those apps would not be consumable without edge computing plus the latency performance and bandwidth made possible by 5G.
By about 2028, only eight percent of edge computing resources will be used to support retail public network voice or messaging. Gaming along might represent 18 percent of edge computing resource consumption.
The edge computing power footprint for mobile and residential consumers will reach 16938 megawatts and 10843 MW, respectively by 2028, the report says.
Edge computing power footprints for service providers and enterprise IT is expected to increase 7117 MW and 5800 MW, respectively.
source: State of the Edge 2020
Mobile operators especially will be significant users of edge computing to support their own internal operations, including their virtualized 5G core and access network facilities.
source: State of the Edge 2020
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