Cloud-native technologies in 5G bring benefits that will undoubtedly increase revenue for Mobile Network Operators but also raise a lot of concern for Top management on transforming their network with minimum business impact and high return on investment. The road to a completely disaggregated and de-coupled containerized network is long and many Operators are hesitant to embark on the journey of Cloudification while operating with minimal margins from legacy technologies. CapEx/OpEx and Energy efficiency are de-facto “mainstream” words heard in the industry nowadays.

Challenges for Mobile Network Operators do not stop with Cloud transformation but continue during network daily operations due to a lack of internal IT expertise, since Cloud-native technologies are new concepts in the Telco industry, and it will take a finite amount of time for MNOs to reach similar expertise level and familiarization as is currently the case for the Legacy technologies.

However, despite many criticisms, 5G is delivering strong results in 2023, showing that the average wireless service revenue in the top 20 5G markets has increased by 3.2% annually for the past two years, based on the latest industry reports. Communication Service Providers who do not evolve as quickly as their competitors risk falling behind during this significant network transformation.