ASEAN Enterprise 5G Q2 2023 Round-Up: Leaders Focus on Key Use Cases While Challengers Start to Make a Move

by Alfie Amir, posted in Internet of Things, IT Leader, Mobilize, Network
A. Amir

Summary Bullets:

• AIS and Singtel continued their momentum with various initiatives to extend their enterprise 5G leadership in their respective markets. They are also starting to focus on high-growth verticals and use cases.

• A few telcos in the region are starting to make their moves to close the gap with the leaders, but most other providers are still taking conservative approaches in their initiatives and investments in enterprise 5G.

The enterprise 5G developments in ASEAN started slow in 2023 with only a number of initiatives in the first quarter, mainly from leading players like Singtel in Singapore and AIS in Thailand (for more, please see: ASEAN Enterprise 5G Q1 2023 Round-Up: Slow Start to the Year for Most ASEAN Telcos While AIS and Singtel Extended Their Leads, April 17, 2023). In the last quarter (Q2 2023), while AIS and Singtel continued their momentum to lead the enterprise 5G markets in respective countries, other telcos such as M1 (Singapore) and Maxis (Malaysia) made their moves through industry collaborations and commercialization of vertical use cases.

  • AIS partners with the Federation of Thai Industry (FTI) to drive the adoption of its 5G manufacturing solutions in the country. The partnership focuses on providing solutions in real-time machine, energy management, and overall equipment effectiveness measurements to SMEs at affordable prices. The platform brings together a range of solutions from 5G, IoT, edge computing, and business applications. The service runs on Singtel’s Paragon platform, indicating some momentum for the company’s collaborations around 5G. Singtel, which owns a 25% stake in AIS, could look to replicate this collaboration model with other companies in the region with which it has partial ownership.
  • Singtel launched Azure public MEC for trial to all enterprises to experience the technologies (e.g., 5G, edge computing, and AI) and unlock new use cases such as digital twins, distributed video analytics, and large language models. Singtel also shared a successful trial with National University Health System that helped surgeons visualize organs in 3D and plan operating procedures leveraging 5G-enabled mixed reality. This will attract more enterprises to participate in the trial and hence drive the adoption of 5G MEC in the country (for more, please see: Singtel – WAN Services, June 28, 2023).
  • M1 Singapore launched 5G SA solution-in-a-box suite in the market. The solutions include M1 SMARTsafe (i.e., worker safety solutions based using machine learning to detect risk and forecast accidents), M1 SMARTsecure (i.e., real-time security surveillance), SMARTasset (i.e., asset management solutions using autonomous robotics), and SMARTops (i.e., workforce productivity services). The first phase of the solutions focuses on the maritime industry. The provider also announced a partnership with Fullerton Health to offer SMARTsafe – i.e., telemedicine services to onboard vessel workers out in the sea. This will drive industry collaborations to co-develop 5G use cases and hence accelerate the adoption of the technology. M1 is competing with Singtel’s Paragon, which has had more time in the market. However, M1 seems to mostly be targeting different verticals with its initial launch compared to Singtel.
  • Maxis opened its business innovation center featuring technologies such as 5G, IoT, cloud, and AI/ML. It also showcased emerging applications including 3D mapping, 5G smart surveillance, smart agriculture, and retail solutions. The new facility will provide a platform for Maxis to co-develop new applications with enterprises, drive innovations, and enhance its solution capabilities (for more, please see: Maxis to Further Drive Enterprise Digitalization Through New Innovation Center, May 18, 2023).

Conclusion
As the enterprise 5G market is developing, awareness is rapidly growing while business cases for 5G are getting clearer. Enterprises are increasingly considering 5G as part of their digital transformation roadmaps to enable new applications. However, while leading telcos such as AIS and Singtel are driving various initiatives to drive the market, there is still a lack of push by the overall providers. Most other providers are taking a more conservative approach by waiting for the market to mature further before making more significant investments and initiatives.

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