How telecoms can monetize 5G: Capturing a $100 billion opportunity
Telecoms have a $100 billion opportunity in the 5G economy, and these 5G use cases prove it.
The telecommunications industry has grown from a connectivity provider for consumers to becoming the backbone of the modern industrial economy, and the pressure is INTENSE. The telecom trends for 2025 reflect this reality.
Individuals, businesses, and—increasingly—machines depend on networks, requiring huge infrastructure investments. New rivals keep making their way into the market. And regulatory compliance is a constant challenge.
Telecom leaders are tasked with managing all these mounting pressures, and need to find ways to support the global demand for connectivity – while also utilizing emerging technologies and new business models to drive growth.
The telecom trends for 2025 highlight the challenges and opportunities ahead for an industry in the midst of massive transformation.
7 telecom trends 2025
With digital transformation continuing to reshape how we interact and do business, demand for connectivity has skyrocketed. PwC estimates that global data consumption over telco networks will reach 9.7 petabytes in 2027, up from 3.4 million PB in 2022.
In 2025, IDC expects there will be 79.4 zettabytes of data created by just by connected IoT devices, with much of that data produced by video-based devices.
While telcos are expected to invest $342 billion in their networks in 2027, margins on internet access will only rise 4% CAGR to $921.6 billion through that year, according to PwC.
As telcos strategize to meet connectivity demands and grow revenue, seven key trends will dominate the telecommunications industry in 2025:
- Widespread 5G adoption, 6G in sight: 5G has proven critical to the industry. 6G will form the basis of smart grids in the future, a revolution similar to the introduction of video telephony.
- AI everywhere: From 5G to 6G and terrestrial satellite network integration, AI is key. It addresses self-healing and automated transition between multiple options, and also drives use cases like augmented reality.
- Sustainability: Telcos are aiming for 50-100% renewables by 2025 by phasing out copper networks for more energy-efficient fiber optics and discontinuing power-intensive 3G networks.
- Ramping up cybersecurity: External dependencies will have telcos considering zero-trust models and implementing advanced security protocols to safeguard their infrastructure.
- Regulatory changes: Telecom companies will need to navigate a complex regulatory environment, along with industry-specific rules around competition and spectrum allocation.
- New competition: Hyperscalers and satellite companies may nudge the industry toward a collaborative model combining the best of both terrestrial and satellite telephony to provide ubiquitous connectivity.
- SDN, NFV, and edge computing: Telcos can grow new revenue by providing alternative or complementary solutions now that the industry is comprised of far more than handhelds and telephony devices.
1. 5G goes mainstream, 6G on the way
In 2019, 5G was a trend. Today it’s a reality. 5G adoption has indeed proven an important trend for the industrial economy.
By 2028, global 5G connections are expected to grow to 7.9 billion, up from 1.76 billion in 2023. With that forecast, 5G would account for more than half of all connections, according to 5G Americas and Omdia.
Faster internet speeds with lower latency and much better battery lives have opened use cases as never before. Driven by government stakeholders, telecommunications companies have been heavily investing in network components to support 5G deployment and a huge range of applications and services.
SAP and Singtel’s partnership leverages 5G and edge computing through the intelligent edge aggregator (IEA) and the Singtel Paragon platform to improve business operations. For example, at a Singaporean concrete company, IEA integrates SAP’s Business Technology Platform with video analytics to automate quality checks, optimizing alignment, and material validation processes.
By using real-time data insights, the solution reduces manual work and improves accuracy, illustrating the benefits of 5G-enabled technology in operational workflows.
While the industry continues to roll out 5G, 6G is an emerging trend. 6G plans to use new spectrum bands, such as the terahertz band for ultra-high data speeds, with very low latency and integrate AI into the network architecture.
6G will form the basis of smart grids of the future, enabling energy producers and consumers to manage energy efficiently and be sustainable. 6G will allow immersive extended reality (XR) and very high-fidelity holograms. This will be as revolutionary in communication as the introduction of video telephony in the past.
However, a key challenge—which remains to be addressed— is how to combine efficient energy consumption with high transmission speeds. And responsible integration of AI is an essential ingredient for the end user experience.
2. Telecom trend 2025: AI advances
AI is in the telecommunications industry’s DNA. As far back as the 1950s, echo cancellation made for clearer voice transmission. In the 80s, the industry introduced algorithms for smartly managing network growth, and by the 1990s, it added predictive algorithms for predicting network failures.
In 2025, the industry will ramp up its use of AI. Worldwide, telcos will invest $58.7 billion in the technology by 2032, up from $3.34 billion in 2024, according to Fortune Business Insights.
In network topology improvements, from 5G to 6G and terrestrial satellite network integration, AI is playing a key role. It not only addresses self-healing and automated transition between multiple options, but also drives use cases like augmented reality.
The AI trend will help 6G evolve networks to the next level of connected intelligence. Telcos also will leverage both predictive and increasingly cognitive AI for predictive maintenance, fault detection, automated troubleshooting, security, and top-flight customer experiences.
The future of business is calling.
RISE to the occasion.
3. Many shades of green: Telecom sustainability
Sustainability has been a top trend for the telecommunications industry, which will further its green commitment on a number of fronts in 2025. The ongoing energy crisis along with growing awareness of the ecological impact have driven major telecommunications service providers to focus on conservation of critical energy resources and the planet by reducing their carbon and plastic footprints.
Telecom firms are increasingly adopting renewable energy, aiming for 50-100% renewables by 2025 to reduce carbon footprints. Initiatives include phasing out copper networks for more energy-efficient fiber optics and discontinuing power-intensive 3G networks. Advanced 5G technologies, with innovations like sleep-mode features, also reduce energy use.
In addition to reducing carbon waste an important telecom trend is reducing plastic and electronics waste by optimizing resource use, and embedding sustainability into business operations. This includes designing products for longevity, recycling e-waste, and promoting sustainable supply chains. By embracing circular economy principles, telecommunications providers can enhance their brand reputation and attract environmentally conscious consumers.
Circular economy solutions together with sustainability dashboards are a reality of telecommunications industry. Corporate sustainability reporting, which provides stakeholders, including investors, clear and consistent sustainability data is driving increased accountability in the sector.
The industry’s efforts have boosted its sustainability score by 9 points, in part through better transparency in reporting, according to the Telco Sustainability Index.
Telecoms’ sustainability work extends beyond the industry itself. By helping entire sectors of the economy to connect to work remotely, telcos have helped reduce the transportation sector’s impact on the environment.
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4. Securing the signal in 2025: Telecom cybersecurity trend
As the industry shifts from 5G to 6G, its customer base expands beyond consumers and businesses to devices and hyperlinked networks in energy grids, supply chains, and more. This means security risks will have external dependencies.
To protect themselves, more telcos will consider zero-trust models. This approach assumes that threats can exist both inside and outside the network, requiring continuous verification of user identities and device security.
A global EY study in 2023 found that 53% of telcos expected the cost of cybersecurity breaches to surpass $3 million. Seventy-four precent said their company needs to do more to mitigate the risk of AI “bad actors.”
In 2025, telecommunications providers will implement advanced security protocols, including AI-driven threat detection and response systems, to safeguard their infrastructure. Telcos should focus on network resilience, and improving customer trust through transparent practices.
Companies can use AI-enabled tools to detect and mitigate threats in real-time, implement identity and access management (IAM) solutions and zero-trust architectures to limit access.
Additionally, telecom companies are prioritizing managing third-party risk, securing APIs, and improving data encryption practices to handle complex security and regulatory compliance.
5. Macroeconomic trends and regulations
As a heavily regulated sector, the telecommunications industry must support data privacy, data residency, and data sovereignty along with industry-specific rules around competition and spectrum allocation.
In 2025, telecommunications companies will need to navigate a complex regulatory environment, ensuring compliance while maintaining innovation. So far, net neutrality has restricted industry growth by allowing a few companies—namely Meta, Google and Netflix— to benefit from the regulation.
Yet with the 6G trend, it’s likely that this regulation will be relaxed, allowing telecoms to control the innovation chain.
At the same time, citizens’ direct and free at-the-point-of-consumption access has enabled most of the industry’s recent innovation, and must be retained. The European Commission’s Draghi Report identified availability and affordability of telecom networks as key to European competitiveness.
In a similar vein, the US plans to spend $42 billion on providing an universal internet access. All this is great news for an industry where there was none or very slow growth for years.
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6. Telecom trends 2025: New rivals + business models
Telecommunications has been defined not only by competitors inside the industry, but also from outside the industry, such as over-the-top (OTT) providers of audio, video, and media content over telecom networks. Meta, Netflix and Google alone account for the bulk of network capacity.
Today, telecoms face new rivals like hyperscalers and satellite companies. One example is Starlink with its LEO system. Terrestrial telephony offers much higher quality and scale, but satellite telephony offers ubiquity.
The new satellite business models for broadcasters include direct-to-home (DTH) services, multiplexing, and integration with digital terrestrial television (DTT) to expand market reach. Revenue models such as advertising and subscription-based services can support sustained growth and audience engagement through satellite technology.
The industry may move towards a more collaborative model combining the best of both terrestrial and satellite telephony to provide ubiquitous connectivity. Industry leaders Airbus and Deutsche Telekom demonstrated an AI-driven transition between the two technologies based on management of fallouts and availability.
In 2025, telecommunications operators can’t purely rely on their geographical jurisdiction, but need to think far beyond to take advantage of revenue opportunities.
According to Analysys Mason, satellite-related revenue for telecoms will increase $32.5 billion between 2022 and 2027. Satellite solutions will drive 40% of telco enterprise revenue growth.
7. SDN, NFV, and edge computing: Connectivity for the win
The telecommunications industry has grown far beyond handhelds and telephony devices. It now encompasses intelligent connected devices, and today with indoor wireless, can be a replacement for devices like routers.
This is a huge opportunity for telecoms, opening the door for them to provide alternative or complementary solutions. Technological advancements are driving this opportunity. The key telecom trends here are software-defined networks (SDN), network function virtualization (NFV), and edge computing.
SDN is gaining momentum as telcos aim to boost flexibility and efficiency. In 2025, we will likely see widespread adoption of SDN, allowing providers to dynamically allocate network resources and optimize performance based on real-time demand.
The global SDN market is expected to grow to $60.2 billion by 2028, up from $24.5 billion in 2023, according to Research and Markets.
NFV and edge computing are also shaping the future of telecommunications. By moving computing resources closer to the edge of the network, providers can reduce latency and improve the performance of applications, particularly those reliant on real-time data processing. This evolution will enable new use cases like autonomous vehicles and remote healthcare, to thrive.
IoT is transforming industries by connecting everyday devices to the internet. Telecommunications providers will play a critical role in enabling this ecosystem, offering specialized IoT connectivity plans and services.
As cities become smarter, telecommunications will be at the heart of this transformation. IoT applications in smart cities, such as intelligent traffic management, waste management, and energy optimization, will rely on reliable networks. Expect telecoms to collaborate with municipalities and urban planners to develop the infrastructure needed to support these applications.
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The future of connectivity
In 2025, the telecommunications industry is poised for significant transformation. Broad adoption of 5G, the emergence of 6G, artificial intelligence, IoT growth, evolution of network architectures, enhanced cybersecurity measures, and sustainability will define the future of connectivity.
Telecoms must remain agile and innovative to adapt to these trends, ensuring they meet the changing needs of consumers and businesses in a connected world. Successful navigation of these trends will not only drive growth, but also contribute to a more connected and sustainable future.
