Fortinet has announced the findings of a commissioned survey conducted by TelecomTV in association with HardenStance and ETSI found broad-based optimism for 5G revenue opportunities among Telecom sector respondents, but only if the new 5G services were both more secure and better tailored to key enterprise use cases.
5G increases considerably the number of connected devices which provide a new profitable field for cyber adversaries. Considering this, mobile network operators and enterprises must have a strong cybersecurity strategy that can protect their entire infrastructure, from the mobile core to the edge.
A Prominent Business Opportunity
90% of respondents anticipate growth in Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) from their investments. This growth is expected to be split evenly between public and private 5G networks, but since at least half of all private networks are likely to be built and managed by the operators, such companies could potentially capture as much as 75% of the overall 5G business.
64% of respondents will be the augmentation of existing security – as much in terms of architecture as in operations – as well as the tailoring of solutions to specific business use cases which are either critical or very important for nearly three quarters of respondents – especially within the key vertical markets of transport, logistics, automation, manufacturing and healthcare.
The need to partner with other ecosystem providers – even those recognized as competitors – was clear among the survey’s respondents with 44% seeing cloud providers as partners, or at least mainly partners, and only 11% viewing them as pure competitors.
The Importance of a Strong Security Value Proposition
80% of survey respondents consider that the inherent security features of 5G 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)’s specifications as nothing more than a baseline for the 5G market.
62% of all respondents asserted that some, or most, 5G use cases will require additional security features.
61% of respondents consider unlikely business growth in ARPU if they confine themselves mainly or entirely to the connectivity layer of the 5G value chain – and adequately addresses the increased security requirements of 5G and the use cases it will deliver, was regarded as either critical, or very important by almost 90% of respondents.
Rajesh Maurya, Regional Vice President, India & SAARC at Fortinet the virtualized, distributed and dynamic nature of the 5G core combined with massive increases in scalability, the growing utilization of Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC), and overall critical use cases, requires strong security for the underlying infrastructure and the business use cases.
The company’s proven success at delivering 4G and 5G carrier-grade user and control planes visibility and protection, scalability and price-performance demonstrates a clear advantage to those looking to capitalize on these new 5G opportunities.”
From Fortinet’s standpoint, the advent of 5G and the expansion of the cyber threat landscape will impel mobile networks and enterprises to adopt a holistic security approach to cope with this evolving environment.
Methodology
Fortinet asked telecom sector respondents around the world for their perspective on the evolution of the 5G market in enterprise services as well as the security requirements and security business models needed to support those enterprise services.
Among the respondents, more than one third comes from the network operator/service provider community, including major global tier one mobile network operators and a further quarter from the hardware/software systems vendor sector.
(Image Courtesy: www.5g.security/cyber-kinetic/5g-security-privacy-challenges)