European CSPs expect 5G deployments to enhance UCaaS

80% of European communication service providers (CSPs) expect 5G to increase enterprise revenue opportunities. This is according to IDC, which also found that CSPs are optimistic regarding the development of unified communications as a service (UCaaS).

CSPs remain optimistic

Market research firm IDC interviewed C-level executives and senior management on behalf of Amdocs. Overall, the survey gathered responses from 105 CSP firms across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. The vast majority of respondents expected 5G to expand revenue opportunities with enterprise customers. In fact, 35% predict that they will be able to expand their revenue by 5-10% in the first two years alone. John Delaney, Associate VP of Mobility Research at IDC, commented on 5G's optimistic future. “Operators of 5G networks can support mission-critical enterprise communications, with performance backed by service-level agreements,” he said. “Our research shows that mobile operators are optimistic about the potential for 5G to support an expansion of their role in the enterprise market.” Indeed, 72% respondents in Europe were confident that they would be the first to market with 5G enterprise services.

A boost for UCaaS

A third of the providers said that they plan to offer enterprise 5G services by the end of this year. Meanwhile, 84% were confident that they would bring these capabilities to market by 2020. At present, new revenue opportunity is a primary motivation for respondents to adopt 5G. However, 65% said that customer demand was also driving their investment in enterprise 5G services. Furthermore, CSPs are particularly optimistic about 5G's ability to enhance UCaaS. Many respondents said that early 5G deployments would improve these existing enterprise services for customers. In fact, 16% of the operators in Europe said that 5G will provide enterprise customers with a platform to support a new range of business models. With 56% of companies planning to move to UCaaS in the near future, early adoption is also key to becoming a competitive CSP.

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