5G Monetization holds immense promise for Communication Service Providers (CSPs), particularly in the B2B services domain. According to a Nokia Bell Labs research, by 2030, businesses will be spending $4.5 trillion per year on 5G-enabled technologies. IoT, private networks, and 5G slicing have already emerged as a new strong source of revenue for CSPs.
Yet, the path to 5G monetization is riddled with challenges. According to a TM Forum survey, 80% of CSPs feel the benefits of 5G are still out of reach, hindered by business complexities and technical barriers.
To bring light to these challenges, Infovista has joined efforts with CSPs and vendors to develop the TM Forum’s Holistic intelligence & GenAI to accelerate 5G monetization Catalyst, which is poised to unlock new revenue opportunities and streamline operations between the CSPs and their enterprise customers.
Challenges in scaling 5G B2B services
The go-to-market motion for 5G B2B services is vastly different (and more complex) than previous generations. CSPs face issues in multiple key areas:
1. Operational complexity
Traditional operations struggle to support 5G’s dynamic network environments. Limited visibility, siloed systems, and manual processes hinder the ability to manage end-to-end service level agreements (SLAs) effectively. Identifying and resolving network issues often remains time-intensive, escalating costs and frustrating enterprise customers.
2. Outdated selling models
Legacy network services like SD-WAN and VPNs were relatively static in focus and were based on time-extensive selling models that involved human interaction to sell and activate. However, modern 5G use cases, such as dynamic 5G slices, Network as a Service (NaaS) and on-demand IoT connectivity require increasingly agile sales and fulfillment models—a challenge for teams which still rely on traditional approaches.
3. Lack of service differentiation
Most CSPs remain focused on delivering connectivity rather than innovating their offerings to provide a differentiated customer experience. This lack of service differentiation and scalable customization makes it difficult to compete on factors beyond price and SLA adherence.
4. Enterprise expectations
B2B customers increasingly demand transparency, operational autonomy, and seamless digital experiences. They expect intuitive dashboards and self-service portals that provide clear insights into service performance. However, many CSPs still struggle to deliver these capabilities, leaving a significant gap between customer expectations and the services provided.
Overcoming 5G monetization challenges with an AI and automation framework
The journey to 5G monetization isn’t without obstacles. CSPs face complex challenges, from managing dynamic services to meeting ever-growing enterprise expectations. To help them streamline their operations and enhance customer experience, Infovista leads the TM Forum’s Holistic Intelligence & GenAI Catalyst, championed by Bludigit, BT, Econet Wireless, Telecom Italia, Telus and Zain, which provides a scalable framework to tackle these challenges head-on by combining AI/ML capabilities with deep observability and autonomous workflows.
And how does this framework work? In short, CSPs can offer advanced portals to enterprise customers, powered by Infovista’s Ativa solution for automated assurance. These portals provide tailored analytics through comprehensive dashboards, covering SLA reporting, real-time incident tracking, and a GenAI assistant to automate investigations, analysis, and even actions. This Analytics-as-a-Service (AaaS) model not only enhances the enterprise experience and empowers informed decision-making to optimize operations but also opens new revenue streams for CSPs, monetizing beyond mere connectivity.
Portals enhance our visibility as an enterprise, refining the way we troubleshoot by accurately demarcating issues and pinpointing root-causes even when they originate in the CSP’s network - optimizing team coordination, collaboration and ultimately resolution times.
Diego Vola | Telecommunications Project Manager | Bludigit - Italgas
Key components of the holistic intelligence and GenAI catalyst framework
Data-powered observability
Acknowledging that achieving full transparency requires complete network visibility, the Catalyst framework provides 360° observability across RAN, core, transport, and service performance layers, allowing CSPs to:
- Monitor and ensure end-to-end SLAs per enterprise customer
- Report on service quality and network performance metrics in real time
- Seamlessly drill-down to network domains and investigate degradation causes
The 360° visibility provides insights for Innovation, Sales and Marketing, Engineering and Operations departments to collaborate and craft tailored service offerings that our customers need.
Massimo Banzi | Innovation Manager | Telecom Italia
ML and GenAI integration
ML and GenAI play a pivotal role in improving operational accuracy, agility, and efficiency:
- Machine learning (ML): Detects anomalies, predicts SLA breaches and pinpoints root causes across network layers
- GenAI: Elevates interactions with conversational AI for intuitive troubleshooting, ticket investigations, and SLA management, simplifying complex tasks for users, whether CSPs or enterprise customers
End-to-End automation
Automation streamlines processes across the service lifecycle, reducing manual workloads while accelerating scalability. Key areas of automation include:
- End-to-end SLA monitoring, automated root-cause analysis and business impact assessment
- Seamless ticket generation, enrichment and customer notification
- Intelligent automation use cases, including license upsell detection, enterprise-initiated self-ordering, and other advanced functionalities
With automation, GenAI, and customer portals, we can achieve greater simplicity and agility in our operations, maximizing every aspect from improved KPIs and SLAs to shorter customer onboarding times, ultimately leading to higher profits.
Ahmed Omer Ahmed | Architecture & DevOps Manager | Zain KSA
Open APIs for integration
Open APIs connect CSPs and enterprise ecosystems, enabling smooth collaboration and automation across key areas:
- Service provisioning and activation
- Incident management and network orchestration
- Real-time data exchange for efficient operations
How CSPs and enterprises benefit
This AI-powered framework drives substantial value across the telecom ecosystem.
CSPs can:
Resolve issues affecting customer experience 70% faster, driven by:
- Holistic view on quality and SLAs
- Predictive ML-anomaly detection, identifying issues before impacting the customer
- Automated incident management, enabled by automation and open APIs
Unlock new revenue streams through:
- Monetizing data and analytics with enterprises, extending beyond connectivity services
- Adapting the framework to support a variety of enterprise customer types
- Ensuring faster customer onboarding and time-to-value
Boost efficiency by 60% and reduce operational costs by:
- Automating tasks and processes, i.e. RCA, ticketing and resolution actions
- Efficiently scaling network resource
Our customers deserve more than just connectivity; they deserve access to all network management features, including self-provisioning, GenAI-based analytics, marketing insights, and more, empowering them to autonomously manage their business operations.
Patrizia Rossi | Enterprise Major Accounts Manager | Telecom Italia
Enterprises can also:
Reduce operational complexity and costs by:
- Leveraging a GenAI-powered Analytics-as-a-Service solution that simplifies operational technology and delivers tailored, value-driven insights
- Receiving real-time notifications from the CSP about network issues and potential service disruptions, enabling swift, proactive responses
- Quickly identifying non-network- and sensor-specific issues, eliminating unnecessary field visits and reducing related expenses by up to 90%
Enhance SLA compliance for regulators and stakeholders, reducing breaches by over 20%, enabled by:
- Real-time visibility into service performance with comprehensive SLA transparency on CSPs
- Swift problem identification, demarcation and penalty attribution
- Enhanced portal capabilities, powered by a GenAI assistant, streamlining operations and fostering improved communication and collaboration between enterprises and CSPs
The synergy this catalyst brings with our CSPs is invaluable. The shared source of truth for KPIs/SLAs streamlines operations, reducing downtime, optimizing costs and improving regulatory compliance.
Diego Vola | Telecom Project Manager | Bluedigit
AI-driven 5G monetization use cases
This catalyst framework enables CSPs and enterprises to simplify operations, create frictionless experiences, and unlock faster revenue. Here are a few examples of how the framework works in real-world scenarios:
Use case 1: Automated observability for IoT connectivity
For industries like utilities and smart metering, real-time observability is key to ensuring SLA compliance while providing actionable insights that drive smarter operations.
Let's explore how automated observability and anomaly handling work in a scenario for the utility industry, where real-time network monitoring ensures SLA compliance while providing actionable insights for both the CSP and its B2B customers. The process occurs as follows:
- Network issue detection: The process begins with 360° observability, where the system monitors the IoT connectivity service and network, and detects a potential network problem when smart meters are idle (morning).
- Troubleshooting and ticketing: The solution, Ativa, automatically initiates a root-cause analysis, identifying the issue as poor radio connectivity, and generates an enriched ticket within the trouble-ticketing system with all relevant findings.
- Customer notification: The enterprise customer is alerted through the portal about network performance issues in the affected area that may impact smart meter connectivity
- Service impairment identification: By noon, the system, powered by machine learning, detects an anomaly in the behavior of certain smart meters, as they fail to transmit data as expected, indicating a connectivity issue.
- Root cause analysis: The system triggers an automated workflow to analyze the issue, detecting 203 smart meters affected by packet loss and correlating the issue with the previously identified radio network problem.
- Ticket generation: Once the root cause is identified, the system automatically generates a correlated child ticket, enriched with the impact analysis (devices, KPIs, SLAs).
- Customer notification: At this stage, the enterprise customer is notified of the issue, including alarm details such as impacted devices, severity, ticket status, and priority. The customer is also given the option to update ticket status and priority based on business urgency, ensuring transparency and enabling prompt action.
- Resolution confirmation: Once the network issue is resolved, KPIs are monitored to ensure all devices return to normal connectivity. A notification is triggered across the portal to inform the customer that the issue has been resolved.
The benefits of this automated approach for IoT services are significant.
On one hand, CSP teams can ensure proactive issue management and minimize the risk of SLA breaches through clear visibility into affected network slices and services.
On the other hand, enterprise customers gain enhanced transparency through automatic notifications of potential issues, along with deeper insights into the root cause and real-time tracking of resolution progress.
Interested in deep diving into this use case? Watch the detailed demo
Use case 2: Gaming slice automated expansion
Let's explore now how the AI-driven framework operates in a scenario in which a 5G gaming slice where a user license purchased by the customer is predicted to reach its limit, and how it enables frictionless purchasing experience while enhancing both operational efficiency and monetization opportunities.
- Monitoring and risk detection: The process begins with predictive analytics that identify potential risks before they impact the service. The SoC team uses the business dashboard to monitor all slices and track health trends and customer experience scores, allowing proactive actions to ensure a smooth gaming experience for subscribers.
- Capacity analysis: When a user license is predicted to reach its limit, the system analyzes network performance and resources, forecasting the need for additional capacity.
- Capacity availability check: A request is sent to the orchestrator to confirm the required resources are available
- Customer notification: Once confirmed, the enterprise customer is notified via the portal about reaching the license limit, potentially impacting SLA compliance, with the option to purchase additional capacity.
- Automated scaling: Upon customer confirmation, the orchestrator scales the slice by expanding resources, updating all relevant systems, including billing and assurance
- Confirmation and monitoring: The enterprise receives confirmation of the expanded slice, and the dashboard reflects the new user capacity.
CSPs and their enterprise customers benefit from this automated license expansion for gaming slices framework in several ways:
They can identify potential issues before they impact service, allowing timely action to prevent service degradation. As the system delivers automated notifications and self-ordering, enterprises find it easier to manage their services. Additionally, they can both boost agility and autonomy, reducing manual interventions, and enhance 5G monetization by identifying upsell opportunities.
To know more about this use case, watch the extended demo
The path forward
The road to 5G monetization is challenging, but with AI-enabled frameworks like TM Forum’s Catalyst - Holistic Intelligence & Gen AI for 5G monetization and joint efforts between CSPs and enterprises, all players in the telecom ecosystem can turn challenges into opportunities. Transforming operations, enhancing services, and empowering B2B customers is no longer a distant goal. Thanks to GenAI, AI-driven automation, ML technologies and industry collaboration, it’s an achievable reality.
Explore related resources for a further deep dive:
- Showcase page: TM Forum Catalyst - Holistic intelligence and GenAI for 5G monetization
- Webinar: AI-driven ecosystem for seamless 5G monetization
- Webinar: Monetizing 5G and B2B Services
- Use case video: Automated observability for IoT connectivity
- Use case video: AI-driven order management for frictionless customer experience
- Product page: Infovista Ativa Suite
- Solution page: 360° Assurance Solutions | Powered by Ativa™ Suite
