Juniper Research, the foremost experts in telecommunications markets, forecasts that operators’ global enterprise revenue will grow 37% over the next five years; reaching $348bn by 2029. This growth is being driven by operators monetising non-core network services and technologies to better service enterprise customers. To capitalise on this growth, operators must leverage the modularity of next-generation networks to create enterprise services that can cater to a wide range of industries and business sizes.
For operators to capitalise on this revenue growth, the report identified two key strategies:
1. Network APIs
Network APIs will drive operator revenue by allowing enterprises to integrate telecommunication functionalities into their proprietary application software. Juniper Research believes that offering API access on a ‘per API call’ basis will attract small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to the telecoms ecosystem and drive enterprise revenue.
Report author Frederick Savage commented: “Operators are tasked with increasing enterprise revenue for both large enterprises and SMEs. We expect 6G standards to focus far more on access to network functionality, rather than performance. APIs will be a key monetisation strategy for operators by allowing enterprises to access networks as needed, rather than committing to monthly connectivity subscriptions.”
2. Managed Services
As network complexity increases, the report identified managed services as another critical tool that operators must invest in to grow enterprise revenue, most notably over future 6G networks. Managed services maximise the value of cellular networks for enterprises, including network monitoring, maintenance and optimisation. Operators must attract heavy-spending enterprise clients to their networks by building out managed services which can solve the increasingly complex connectivity needs for enterprise operations.