The research firm predicted that operators will diversify their strategies to capture some of the $180 billion digital gaming industry in 2022.
As games publishers’ and operators’ needs are aligning around billing for gaming services following the fallout from the Apple and Epic Games lawsuit, the conditions are right for games developers and platforms to become more open to using operators for billing and aggregation.
Martin Scott, lead analyst for Analysys Mason’s worldwide media and pay-TV research believes that the primary reason telcos want to delve into gaming is for growth.
He told Capacity: “Gaming offers as much absolute revenue growth as the whole of TV and video combined, but from a much, much lower base because it’s doubling in value over the next five or six years.”
The predictions report added that while the metaverse will not be a killer app for 5G in 2022, it will represent a leap forward in bringing AR and VR services to the mass market.
The hype around the metaverse will continue in 2022 with various versions of social, gaming and entertainment competing for attention.
The major question for telcos, according to the report, is the degree to which AR and mobility will feature, rather than the VR-heavy vision presented by Meta (formerly known as Facebook).
More on telcos opportunities in gaming can be found here.
5G investment
Analysys Mason also indicated that 2022 will be the start of a two-year spike in 5G SA investment.
The research company stated that between 2020 and 2027, a cumulative $990 billion in capex will be allocated to 5G-related investments including radio access network (RAN), core, cloud and transport.
This will be 65% of total capex for mobile operators during that timespan and will include a “big push” for cloud and edge-native technology.
It will also involve higher levels of automation, orchestration built on AI development capabilities.
Most of the investment will be predicated on new revenue streams for 5G, mainly in advanced B2B services.
Alongside that, the Analysys Mason says OpenRAN will experience a “reality check” about cost and timescales, but operators will seize the opportunity to shake up vendor relationships.
But in the near term, "we expect most supply chain disruption to happen in greenfield and private networks" the company stated.
