In this vignette of The 5G Factor, Ron Westfall and Olivier Blanchard discuss why the launch of the Snapdragon G Series can strengthen the expanding diversity in gaming content, capabilities, and cost to enable a wider range of handheld gaming devices and form factors. The discussion focused on:
Ericsson and Vodafone Live Network Trial: Budding Mobile Game Difference Maker. In August 2023, Ericsson and Vodafone completed a live network trial at Coventry University which successfully demonstrated the positive impact an optimized 5G Standalone (SA) network slice could have on enhancing the mobile gaming experience for consumers. Using network slicing, a major function of a 5G SA network that can enable Vodafone to customize connectivity services for specific customers and use cases, the trial participants were able to experience more consistent gaming connectivity with a 270 percent increase in throughput, a 25 percent decrease in latency and 57 percent less jitter, as well as smoother graphics rendering. We assess the ramifications of the trial in potentially advancing the ability of CSPs to support, scale, and monetize mobile gaming applications.
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Disclosure: The Futurum Group is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of The Futurum Group as a whole.
Transcript:
Ron Westfall: I think to your point earlier about can the operators really make something of this, i.e. monetize it. And one thing just August again that I think was a keen interest from my perspective is that you had Ericsson and Vodafone completing a live network trial at Coventry University to show that again 5G standalone with network slicing capabilities can definitely raise the mobile gaming experience for anybody who’s engaged.
And as a little background, we all understand that 5G standalone as we emphasize is critical for something like network slicing. And that is being able to combine network resources in a dynamic fashion with quality of experience, assurances, and again built in security and so forth. And the key takeaway from this trial is the fact that the trial participants indicated they were able to experience more consistent gaming connectivity with a 270% increase in throughput and a 25% decrease in latency as well as 57% less jitter as well as just smoother graphics, rendering, and so forth.
And so again, this is a seed change from 4G LTE capabilities or the first iteration of 5G using non-standalone that combines 5G radios with 4G core capabilities. It’s bringing on the 5G core capabilities, it’s going to achieve these breakthroughs that we already touched on. So this is somewhat encouraging the fact that Ericsson and Vodafone are conducting a live network trial that’s demonstrating that. And in fact, Ericsson’s network slicing report estimates that 25 to 30% of potential 5G use cases will require network slicing as an enabler.
And we saw T-Mobile CTO just the other week saying, “Hey, we’re ready. We want to bring this to market for…” the reasons we just touched on, lower latency, better performance, a better experience, and so forth.
So with that, what were your impressions of this particular trial? Is this really moving the ball forward or is it like we’ve been here before yet another trial but is it really ready for prime time?
Olivier Blanchard: It sounds like a rhetorical question. Yes, we’ve been here before-
But also, yes…None of this stuff except for the actual numbers and the actual study is all that surprising. We know about the lower latency, we know about the increased number of packets, we know all this, right? It’s been the sales pitch for 5G for quite some time. Again, going back to my original points, it just feels like the same story just being repackaged for different use cases because they’re not really taking off at the scale and pace that we’d like them to with everything else.
I think… No. On the one hand, it’s encouraging though. I’m glad that they’re still trying to tell these stories and finding new use cases and trying to drive up more business. What worries me is that we should be at a point now where nobody has to do this, right? Vodafone shouldn’t have to do this. T-Mobile shouldn’t have to do this. We shouldn’t have to have these case studies. It should be normal in our fluency of understanding how 5G works. We as consumers should be like, “Aha. Yes, of course it works for this device and this device in this use of case.” So normally, of course, it’ll work for gaming, it’ll work for all these other things.
The fact that we keep having to sell 5G in smaller and smaller and smaller verticals and market segments, it’s a little bit concerning. It just means that the marketing’s not sticking and maybe the operators need to… It’s not a question of not continuing to repeat the same things over and over again but maybe also adding a different tune. It’s a little bit like the GEICO insurance commercials where you have different sets, you have different themes, you have the cavemen and then you have the other thing. Maybe they just need to find different themes to sell consumers on.
And also just streamlined adoption. Right now, again, the complexity of it is you need different plans or you don’t know if you need different plans or how you can get your 5G connection to your devices and they just need to eliminate those barriers of adoption and make it as simple as possible for technology users regardless of what their devices are.
Ron Westfall: Yes. Yeah, I can see TikTok videos on the horizon for the suggestion here. And yeah, that’s actually not a non-serious suggestion. It’s really about how do the operators become more imaginative about marketing the 5G wares. And I know we’ve been hammering on, okay, 5G standalone is really the critical difference maker, but most people out there when you say 5G standalone are going to be like, “Well, how’s that different from 5G itself?”
And I think that’s where the operators shanked it, if you will. They came out with the initial version of 5G, but really didn’t say, “Oh, by the way, there is a sequel here and actually, there’s another sequel 5G advanced,” and this is something that obviously has to be delivered, has to be built in to make more of this magic happen in terms of the services and the application capabilities.
And so I wouldn’t be surprised if something that was a new different take instead of like, “I want my 5G, I want my network slicing.” I don’t know, I want my slicing, to resonate.
Olivier Blanchard: Yeah. You have to approach your market segments, your customers differently and speak their language. So if you’re targeting gamers, you’re going to have to do something for gamers. If you’re targeting the average mobile user, it’s going to be different. But ultimately, there’s-
Ron Westfall: Let alone an enterprise or a business.
Olivier Blanchard: Yes. And I think-
Ron Westfall: It’s very much different.
Olivier Blanchard: …there’s also an opportunity there for operators to differentiate themselves in newer ways. And I think it’s fine if one operator that’s invested in certain 5G technologies to be the operator for gamers, right? Because they just have a better network for low latency, low jitter. You’re going to have the fastest connection for your games and it’s going to be really reliable. And for another operator to be known as the operator of choice for other types of use cases and other types of markets as opposed to every operator trying to be the same thing to everyone. And I think they might have to start becoming a little bit more tactical as the device ecosystem gets broader and more specific in the types of use cases that it targets.
And gaming might be ahead of XR because XR, we’re still a few years away from that really scaling, but gaming, we’re at a point where, yeah, it’s starting to pick up significantly and reach beyond serious gamers. I think this might be the defining opportunity for the operators to start redefining what that specific 5G value proposition could be for them and where maybe they have to abandon a market and focus on something else where somebody else just capitalized on it. Like when AT&T was the original carrier for iPhones. It’s the same kind of thing.
Ron Westfall: Yeah, yeah. Great analogy. And yes, I think that’s right on. There’s… You have to do the mass market advertising or outreach, but you can also augment that with targeted advertising. It’s not an either or proposition, I think. But there’s definitely room for improvement here, certainly when it comes to the mobile operators and now that’s ongoing, but now it needs to be refined to correlate with the very technical advances that we touched on in our conversation here today.
So yeah, with that high note or potential high note, there was plenty of tonic here. Thank you again, Olivier, for jumping onto The 5G Factor, as always.
Olivier Blanchard: Thanks for having me as always.
Ron Westfall: Not a problem, not a problem. And again, thank you everybody for tuning in and listening to The 5G Factor. Always be sure to subscribe to our webcast. And to our viewing audience and listening audience, thank you again for spending time with us and have a great 5G day, everyone.
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Author Information
Ron is an experienced, customer-focused research expert and analyst, with over 20 years of experience in the digital and IT transformation markets, working with businesses to drive consistent revenue and sales growth.
He is a recognized authority at tracking the evolution of and identifying the key disruptive trends within the service enablement ecosystem, including a wide range of topics across software and services, infrastructure, 5G communications, Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), analytics, security, cloud computing, revenue management, and regulatory issues.
Prior to his work with The Futurum Group, Ron worked with GlobalData Technology creating syndicated and custom research across a wide variety of technical fields. His work with Current Analysis focused on the broadband and service provider infrastructure markets.
Ron holds a Master of Arts in Public Policy from University of Nevada — Las Vegas and a Bachelor of Arts in political science/government from William and Mary.
Olivier Blanchard has extensive experience managing product innovation, technology adoption, digital integration, and change management for industry leaders in the B2B, B2C, B2G sectors, and the IT channel. His passion is helping decision-makers and their organizations understand the many risks and opportunities of technology-driven disruption, and leverage innovation to build stronger, better, more competitive companies. Read Full Bio.
