There is a massive and clear opportunity for the telecom industry to capture the next wave of growth from artificial intelligence (AI-)driven services to private 5G and the internet of things (IoT), enabled by new capabilities. However, despite confidence in the industry that it can provide compelling AI and 5G use cases, most communication service providers (CSPs) are yet to begin implementing the capabilities required to deliver it.
That is according to Ericsson’s Breaking the cycle of missed opportunities global study, which was based on the opinion of 455 senior telecom executives and looked at how AI-driven applications place new demands on network performance and flexibility.
Ericsson noted that over recent decades, telecoms leaders have repeatedly identified promising new growth opportunities, only to fall short of turning that promise into sustained commercial impact. It stressed that value has been left on the table “again and again”, with others managing to react faster.
The research set out to explore a simple but critical question: is the industry genuinely better positioned to succeed this time? Encouragingly, the findings show that change is underway, with some CSPs already delivering tangible benefits, addressing long-standing challenges by investing in AI and automation technologies, exploring more agile ecosystems, and adopting cloud-native architectures.
The study showed that growth is no longer defined by a single use case or market but by a diverse mix of region-specific, sector-led and application-driven opportunities. Many of these demand greater speed, flexibility and collaboration than traditional operating models were designed to support.
The study found five key dynamics: there is no shortage of opportunity ahead; execution will determine who captures those opportunities; the industry has a clear view of where it has fallen short before; many of the capabilities needed to unlock future growth remain under-implemented; and closing the gap with industry front-runners will require simpler, more flexible deployment models.
Telecoms leaders were confident about future growth and clear on where opportunities lie. What remains less certain is whether existing operating models and capabilities are ready to support those ambitions at the pace and scale required.
Respondents showed strong alignment on both the opportunities telecoms failed to capitalise on and the reasons why. Legacy systems, slow decision-making, inconsistent investment and limited collaboration featured prominently. AI-driven operations, advanced 5G capabilities, cloud-native architectures and SaaS-based platforms were seen as essential enablers of future opportunity. Yet the uneven availability of capabilities such as 5G Standalone was limiting how developers and technology providers design new products.
The majority (90%) of companies were confident in their organisation’s ability to unlock new revenue opportunities. It also highlighted how the industry was clearly aligned on where the opportunity lies, namely: private 5G and enterprise connectivity ranks as the top growth area (49%); consumer/enterprise digital services with tailored performance (44%); and wide-area IoT connectivity (40%).
However, the research findings also cast a light on the fact that the deployment of several key enabling technologies is lagging behind the industry’s ambitions. As many as around 70% have not commenced implementation of the technologies they identify as critical to achieving that growth, with more than 80% saying future growth depends on scaling services rapidly and that the ability to experiment more easily would be a major advantage.
Two-thirds of companies have not commenced implementation of AI-driven network operations and 61% have not commenced implementation of advanced 5G capabilities, including 5G standalone and network slicing. Some 68% have not commenced adoption of SaaS-based IT platforms.
Concluding, Ericsson warned that a gap between belief and execution remains persistent and that history shows that this gap has repeatedly shaped outcomes for the telecoms sector.
It emphasised that the real challenge – and where leadership must now focus their efforts – is translating that vision into action at pace and scale. Legacy systems, ingrained behaviours and rigid operating models have often slowed progress, allowing others to move faster and capture value – and CSPs must not let the past repeat itself.
“The opportunity ahead for the telecom industry to capture the next wave of growth is clear, from AI-driven services to private 5G and IoT enabled by new capabilities,” said Razvan Teslaru, head of strategy, cloud software and services at Ericsson.
“While there is no single path to capturing that opportunity, CSPs are aligned in the capabilities required to deliver it. The challenge is that adoption of those capabilities remains limited, and this execution gap will ultimately determine who translates ambition into real growth. This will require more flexible approaches, with technology partners and new ecosystems enabling operators to move faster and unlock value.”
