AWS isn’t going to war with telcos on private 5G

Wireless carrier executives no doubt felt a sense of debilitating deja vu today when Amazon Web Services (AWS) made its intentions in private enterprise networks known. AWS Private 5G, a new managed service from the cloud giant, was likely long expected but also existentially feared by most.

AWS’ foray into private cellular networks for enterprises poses the clearest threat yet to global operators’ enterprise aspirations. A long-desired dream to become the connectivity provider for enterprises, beyond smartphones and rudimentary IoT devices, is now Amazon’s for the taking.

First the world’s largest cloud provider came for wireless network infrastructure, now it’s coming for the massive emerging market of private cellular networks.

The problem, appreciable application, and point of entry for private 5G remains the same, but AWS puts a new spin on it by effectively relegating carriers to the sidelines.

“With AWS Private 5G, you can set up and scale a private mobile network in days instead of months. You get all the goodness of mobile technology without the pain of long planning cycles, complex integrations, and the high upfront costs,” AWS CEO Adam Selipsky said today at AWS re:Invent.

AWS asserts ‘shockingly easy’ private 5G
“It’s shockingly easy. You tell us where you want to build your network and specify the network capacity, we ship you all the required hardware, the software, and the SIM cards. Once they’re powered on, the private 5G network just simply auto-configures and sets up a mobile network that can span anything from your corporate office to a large campus, to a factory floor or a warehouse,” he claimed.

“You just pop the SIM cards into your device and voila — everything connected.”

AWS Private 5G follows the cloud model, allowing customers to add additional capacity, provision more devices without per-device fees, and manage access permissions in the AWS console. It also supports 4G LTE and operates in shared, unlicensed spectrum.

The service, which is available in preview mode, integrates with small cell radio units, servers, a 5G core, and radio access network (RAN) software — all delivered and maintained by AWS.

“There’s currently nothing like AWS Private 5G out there — a one-stop shop to manage a private cellular network that lets you start small and scale up as you need with pay-as-you-go pricing,” Selipsky said.

Market impact beyond awareness unknown
It’s that fully unlicensed spectrum feature that could cause mobile network operators to feel threatened, according to Daryl Schoolar, research director of worldwide telecommunications at IDC.

“Their [operators] role in the relationship is unclear. With licensed spectrum, operators clearly have a role to play,” he wrote in response to questions after attending the event in person. “Ultimately, operators could work with AWS to create a mass market private network offering that mobile operators can resell like cloud services they resell from AWS.”

Roaming elements in private networks that require a WAN could also create a role for service providers, he added.

Meanwhile, because “AWS plans to source network equipment and software from traditional vendors, this should be a plus for those companies,” Schoolar explained. “AWS creates another go-to-market channel for them. With mobile operators the relationship gets trickier.”

Overall, he said, AWS has several details to work out and without more details available on the business model, it’s too early to predict how much AWS’ entry into the space will change the current market dynamics.

However, at an industry-wide level, AWS benefits the market opportunity by raising awareness, particularly with existing customers that might have a closer relationship with the cloud service provider than their connectivity service provider, Schoolar added.

“By sourcing different network and equipment vendors, being fully cloud native so they can scale up or down, and AWS’ role in integrating the components, it should make it easier for a business to have its own private network. This goes across all size ranges of business and verticals,” he concluded. SDX Central