Latin America. With the start of a new year, the Telco sector faces a period of strategic transformations driven by technological advances and new business opportunities.
From the evolution of 5G-Advanced and cloud-native networks to the growing impact of generative artificial intelligence (AI), operators and ecosystem players must adapt quickly to stay competitive. From the firm JSC Ingenium, they highlighted six key trends that will mark the telecommunications sector in 2025:
- The take-off of 5G-Advanced: Although its adoption has been slower than expected, 5G-Advanced is beginning to take more and more prominence. Three-quarters of operators plan to implement it in the next two years, which will optimize network performance, enable new capabilities in core services such as network slicing or ultra-reliable connectivity, and develop new use cases. In addition, with more than 30% of operators exploring B2B services through this technology, 5G-Advanced will be key to the evolution of the market. However, the deployment of 5G SA worldwide remains uneven: while in Latin America it barely reaches 20% of cellular communications, in the US it reaches 91% and in Europe 46%. It is perhaps European operators who are making the greatest effort at the moment by pushing their expansion beyond urban centres, partly thanks to public funding.
- Private networks and specialized solutions by vertical: Private networks continue to gain traction in sectors such as logistics, transportation, and public administration. Telefónica, in collaboration with Nokia, has carried out successful network slicing tests to ensure quality of service in critical applications in the automotive industry. Siemens, together with Deutsche Telekom, has deployed private 5G networks at its industrial facilities to improve automation and safety in production. According to GSMA, only 2% of global enterprises have deployed private networks, but 87% of them report significant benefits, such as increased operational efficiency and reduced costs.
- Generative AI and automation in network management: Generative AI is revolutionizing network planning and operation with applications such as predictive maintenance and resource optimization. 36% of mobile operators in Europe have already implemented generative AI solutions to improve security, customer service and network management. Orange, for example, has deployed AI platforms to optimize real-time data traffic management, which has improved the user experience and reduced operational costs.
- Performance optimization strategies thanks to 5G: 5G and all the possibilities it brings with it represent an unprecedented opportunity in the history of telecommunications. So far, operators are finding it difficult to find the balance between the investment involved in developing 5G and the lack of monetization opportunities through new services. Unlike previous changes – from 2G to 3G, and from this to 4G – the arrival of 5G represents a huge disruption, not so much in the models of use as in the way of understanding telecommunications: network segmentation, microservices, cloudification, allow performance to be improved, errors to be reduced and scalable models to be applied, so that all operators, whatever size they are, they can optimize services with lower costs.
- The sustained growth of the Internet of Things (IoT): Driven by 5G, the IoT continues to expand. According to IoT Analytics, by 2025 there will be 4 billion cellular IoT connections, accounting for 20% of total global connections, with an annual growth rate of 15% until 2030. In this context, devices play a key role in the stability and availability of the service. While some operators in Europe are requiring certifications for devices operating on machine-to-machine networks, many companies are considering replacing their devices in the face of the imminent blackout of legacy 2G and 3G networks.
- The evolution of IoT connectivity beyond eSIM: Although the eSIM has been crucial in the digitization of devices, the industry is migrating towards solutions such as the iSIM (integrated SIM), which eliminates the need for a physical chip by integrating it directly into the device's processor. Qualcomm has led this innovation with the incorporation of iSIM in its Snapdragon chipsets, facilitating the adoption of IoT in sectors such as agriculture and health. It is estimated that up to 3 billion IoT devices could be connected via iSIM by 2027, representing between 10% and 15% of total global IoT connections.
2025 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for the Telco sector, with developments that will redefine the way operators manage their networks and optimize their services. Adapting to these trends will be key to staying ahead of the curve in an increasingly competitive environment.
