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93% of early adopters see ROI on private wireless networks within 12 months, according to a new Nokia report
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Nearly half of enterprises have expanded private wireless deployments since 2022
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The report found private wireless networks boost safety, sustainability and advanced tech integration, reducing emissions and enhancing worker safety
Nokia just unveiled some evidence that private wireless adopters are reaping the rewards at a speedy pace. According to a new report, 93% of early adopters have achieved a return on investment (ROI) within just 12 months.
The finding is part of Nokia's 2024 Industrial Digitalization Report, in which GlobalData interviewed 100 early adopters of private wireless networks across the manufacturing, transportation, and energy sectors in countries including Australia, France, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S.
Back in 2022, many enterprises were still testing private wireless technology in single locations or for limited use cases. Fast forward to 2024, and Nokia found almost half (45%) of these enterprises have significantly expanded their private wireless networks, surpassing initial expectations.
As part of the ROI, private wireless in these industrial environments can ensure “business continuity, making sure that the network or the mission critical OT machinery does not fail,” said Carlijn Williams, global head of Enterprise Campus Edge Marketing at Nokia.
“Because if it fails, or they have to shut down even for a day, then there's huge loss,” she told Fierce Network.
All 100 enterprises interviewed have either begun rolling out private wireless networks to more locations or have expanded their usage at original sites, driving broader industrial transformation. Around 80% reported positive outcomes within six months, and 23% hit their ROI target in just one month. Nokia attributed these swift returns to improvements in broken processes and reductions in overall business costs.
Williams said many operations begin their private wireless journey for autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) and autonomous transport vehicles (ATVs), “and then they start to scale.”
Lufthansa Technik provides an example of this, having first deployed private wireless networks for detailed inspections of aircraft components. The company’s deployment has since expanded to include edge capabilities, eliminating the need to physically move server stacks for artificial intelligence (AI) analytics near aircraft engines.
Additionally, 65% of the report’s respondents saw over a 10% improvement in worker safety through use cases such as geofencing, connected workers and robotics. Williams cited these improvements as another form of private wireless ROI.
Reduction in emissions
Sustainability efforts have also seen a boost, with 79% of organizations reporting a 10% or greater reduction in emissions after deploying private wireless networks. The report indicated that enhanced connectivity has enabled better tracking and monitoring of carbon emissions via industrial IoT devices and sensors, while drone technology has reduced the need for truck rolls.
Edge technology is playing a critical role in enabling advanced low-latency use cases. Among the enterprises deploying private wireless, 39% have adopted on-premise edge technology or new industrial devices to power digitalization and support AI and analytics. An additional 52% plan to follow suit.
For instance, the integration of video analytics with edge-compute resources has enabled 75% of businesses to boost efficiency by 10%.
When it comes to deployment, Nokia’s private wireless network and industrial edge is essentially an as-a-service package. “Once it's up and running, it's very easy to maintain and is provided as a service, subscription based. We've worked with a lot of partners also to do the initial installation and integration but then once it's up and running, it’s fairly smooth sailing,” said Williams.
Though private networks like the ones mentioned in Nokia's report can use either 4G or 5G technology, it's important to note that cloud-native 5G is a key technology layer of the smart cloud stack.
In Asia and other parts of the world, but not yet the US or UK, companies and governments are using smart cloud to innovate in verticals like mining, transport and energy. Enterprises and vertical industries, for example, can disintermediate service providers by building their own private smart cloud networks.
Smart cloud is why Cisco is buying Splunk, HPE is buying Juniper and Broadcom bought VMware. It’s also why Ericsson bought Vonage and why Nokia partnered with Red Hat.