At the 31st PT Exhibition held recently, 5G has become the biggest highlight. It coincides with the fourth anniversary of the licensing, and 5G has achieved fruitful results. In the past four years since the license was issued, the development of 5G applications from 0 to 1 is undoubtedly a success. my country has built a world-leading 5G network, and more than 50,000 5G application innovation cases have been integrated into 52 of the 97 national economic categories. The next problem to be solved is the replication from 1 to N.

Compared with public network communication, 5G private network is more and more welcomed by industry customers. It is understood that industry users have increasingly urgent needs for network reliability, data confidentiality, and equipment control. More and more industry customers have clearly put forward the actual needs of building 5G toB private networks.

However, the 5G private network has the characteristics of high equipment cost and complex network operation and maintenance, and the needs of vertical industries are also differentiated and fragmented, resulting in unattractive cost-effectiveness, which to a certain extent affects the willingness of enterprises to adopt 5G private networks.

Perhaps, it is time to do subtraction for the 5G private network.

"In terms of network coverage, if 5G is obviously more expensive than other solutions, then the competitiveness will be reduced. In the long run, it is still necessary to improve the competitiveness of the 5G technology solution itself, including cost competitiveness." An industry expert told reporters sermon.

Taking the core network as an example, the lightweight core network should be necessary for the enterprise private network. Most of the current solutions are based on the design of the public network. The capacity is too large and often exceeds the needs of enterprises, which in turn means higher costs. Lightweight solutions can better adapt to the needs of enterprises. If it can be made into a modular solution, it is also conducive to future expansion.

The lightweight 5G core network (5G Lightweight Core Network, referred to as lightweight 5GC) is based on the mainstream private network construction model research and development. The lightweight of 5G toB has become a major trend in the development of 5G toB.

At present, the industry has begun to subtract 5G. The goal of Redcap is to solve the cost problem of terminals. The lightweight core network and base stations are to solve the cost problem of network equipment and also to reduce costs. 5G may still be too expensive for most enterprises.

"Solutions based on 5G public networks are difficult to copy and customize, and it is difficult to promote them at present. However, for some more flexible requirements, lightweight 5GC can be used to remove some redundant functions to meet the needs of enterprises. In terms of cost From a perspective, it is easier for enterprises to accept." An expert from the Institute of Information and Communications said.

So what about this part of the market space? Industry experts said that at present, it seems that the market space should not be as large as the public network, but it may be enough for small and medium-sized manufacturers.

Wen Ku, chairman of the China Communications Standards Association, also said during the PT exhibition that in the future, we must continue to deepen the coverage of 5G networks, continue to maintain the concept of moderately advanced network construction, expand the scale of 5G applications, insist on building R&D and applications in parallel, and speed up lightweight cores. The landing of network equipment such as network and customized base stations, the development of 5G enhanced technology, and the acceleration of the development of 5G lightweight chips.

Nowadays, in terms of network products, network products customized according to the industry are gradually enriched, such as customized 5G base station products such as mine-used 5G explosion-proof base stations, power 5G high-precision timing base stations, and network equipment such as lightweight core networks and industry-customized UPF/MEC. Start deploying in the project. There are still broad prospects for development in the future.

Some industry analysts also pointed out that there is another way to solve the problem of high application costs in the 5G industry, which is the core online cloud, which can be ordered on demand, which can further reduce the threshold.

The prospect of 5G for the industry in the future is very broad. Currently, due to the price problem, the progress of scale replication is slow. If labor becomes more and more expensive in the future and enterprises have higher and higher demands for automation, the situation may change.