Survey of over 100 global telecommunications operators
2021 will be the true starting point for 5G services
Network energy consumption increased by 170% in '26

Vertiv announced on February 28 the results of an in-depth survey conducted with 451 Research on more than 100 global telecommunications operators.

This report contains an optimistic outlook on future services that 5G will realize and interactions with edge computing.

The majority of telecommunications operators participating in the survey expected the true 5G era to begin globally in 2021, and 88% of respondents indicated plans to deploy 5G services in 2021–2022.

However, more than 90% of respondents answered that energy costs will increase due to 5G technology, and as a result, they are interested in technologies and services that can improve energy efficiency. This is also consistent with the results of an analysis conducted by Vertiv itself.
According to this, the transition to 5G is expected to increase total network energy consumption by 150–170% by 2026 compared to now, with the largest increase in energy consumption anticipated in the macro, node, and network data center sectors.

Danny Wong, Senior Director of Asia Telecom at Vertiv, said, “While there is no doubt that 5G is the mainstream for next-generation telecommunications and mobile networks, it is true that there are some concerns regarding the deployment of this technology,” adding, “It is of the utmost importance for telecommunications operators to select the optimal infrastructure to drive 5G most efficiently.”

"We hope that the various use cases revealed through Vertiv's own analysis and the results of this survey conducted jointly with 451 Research will help telecommunications operators make rational decisions regarding investment in their core infrastructure," they added.

Regarding edge and 5G, the survey results confirmed that the majority of operators have already deployed edge computing (37%) or plan to implement so-called 'Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC)' which links edge computing with mobile infrastructure (47%).

Brian Partridge of 451 Research“Through this survey, we were able to understand what telecommunications operators want and are concerned about regarding the advancement of 5G and edge businesses,” said the Vice President of Research at dge.

“The two most difficult challenges to overcome in supporting 5G topologies are upgrading access and aggregation layer networks and adding new backhaul links,” said Vice President Partridge. “Respondents to this survey cited the ability to utilize high-quality connectivity technology at distributed POPs and the ease of securing sites as the key factors determining the success or failure of 5G businesses.”

He added, “I believe that through the results of this survey, we will be able to clearly confirm the current level of innovation in the industry.”

In addition to this study, Vertiv has identified four main edge computing archetypes by analyzing more than 100 use cases through extensive research related to this field.

Recently, it also quantified the potential impact of specific 5G implementations by publishing a report titled “Turning on 5G: Using Edge Archetypes to Identify the Most Mature Cases.”

This study by Vertiv and 451 Research examines not only the critical intersections between 5G and edge computing, but also some potential obstacles hindering 5G adoption and, in particular, methods that enable telecommunications operators to mitigate such issues, such as Energy Savings as a Service (ESaaS).all.

According to the survey results, the percentage of respondents who said they were interested in ESaaS was over 90%.