Scott Wiener
This week, I had the privilege of (virtually!) joining the Competitive Carriers Association’s (CCA) Mobile Carriers Show with Light Reading’s Mike Dano to discuss the importance of Ligado’s 5G Mobile Private Networks for U.S. enterprises, especially after the last year that upended so much of how American businesses operate.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a tremendous impact on businesses, accelerating digital transformation everywhere. Connectivity that is reliable and secure is no longer a nice-to-have; it is a need-to-have. The problem, however, is that industries – especially the critical infrastructure companies that make up America’s backbone – are still largely operating on a disparate set of mobile network and IT systems that they have limited control over. While enterprise customers have unique physical or technological requirements for their connectivity and computing platforms, the networks they use today are somewhat of a one-size-fits-all option for enterprise customers. So it’s clear that America’s critical infrastructure companies need an upgrade, and they need it now.
5G Mobile Private Networks will enable a variety of different types of applications and deliver solutions for operations like factory automation to health monitoring to Industry 4.0 transformation —and much more. And while private networks are not new, powering them with high-speed, reliable and secure 5G Mobile Private Networks make them ideal for greater adoption as enterprise customers start implementing their digital transformation strategies at a faster pace.
The bottom line is this: 5G Mobile Private Networks are going to be increasingly necessary for American enterprise. And it’s a market opportunity that Ligado is well-positioned to serve.
Ligado’s 5G Mobile Private Network solution provides the scale of a public network with the control and security of a private one, all in a cost-efficient model. We bring two specific advantages to this opportunity: our nationwide mid-band spectrum to dedicate to these networks, and commercial flexibility due to our greenfield position that isn’t burdened by legacy network infrastructure. These advantages mean we can bring 5G to private networks, focusing on mission-critical applications. And we can also deploy our solution nationwide, reaching both rural and urban areas, which we believe will help modernize our nation’s infrastructure – a needed step that is foundational for economic growth.
Our first step in meeting this opportunity was to team up with Rakuten Mobile to launch trials using licensed and unlicensed spectrum that will showcase our 5G Mobile Private Network solution for enterprise customers in the U.S. The combination of Ligado’s licensed spectrum and Rakuten Mobile’s O-RAN technology makes for a great product solution for the enterprise space and will create a cost-efficient and scalable roadmap for 5G Mobile Private Networks going forward. Essentially, this is a product that will bring together feature rich, yet adaptable and scalable capabilities for network control and configuration that support enterprise digital transformation.
2021 is an exciting time. We’ve got good stuff happening – we’ve identified the market opportunity and are developing a product solution. We’re standing it up in field trials and we want as many partners as possible to come and innovate with us. And we are optimistic about our goal to help modernize America’s critical infrastructure and industries.