RCR Wireless and Enterprise IoT Insights Private Networks Forum event proved pretty revealing, especially on the position of telcos. Why Private Networks? Now that it’s widely accepted that consumers will not be footing the bill for 5G, there is a surge of interest in promoting the benefits of 5G for enterprises via private networks. This is particularly interesting as represents a collision between the telco narrative on 5G (world changing, trillions in GDP, etc. etc.) and the enterprise view of telecom (largely, as a utility). Unlike, say, an event on 5G or Open RAN, the telcos weren’t the centre of attention. And that’s not a place they’re used to being. Even those who did participate (Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom) seemed to acknowledge the recalibration required by telcos aiming to win mindshare on upgraded private networks: much more time required to understand the distinct business challenges in different verticals; the need to work backwards from business outcomes, not forwards from the latest technology; participation in collaborative ecosystem in which any one of a number of parties could lay claim to a “leadership” position. But there is not yet a meeting of minds. Philip Marnick, Group Director of Spectrum at UK regulator OfCom […]