Swedish telecom giant Telia, along with Nokia and MediaTek, successfully completed 5G Redcap field testing in Finland. During this endeavor, Telia utilized its Finnish base stations and concurrently deployed a 5G Standalone Network (SA) core on MediaTek’s 5G Redcap testing platform.

The test also included mobility sections to ensure signal transmission. The successful test of 5G Redcap field in cooperation with Nokia and other partners opens the doors for the extensive adoption of various low-power network (LPN) applications, including wearables and industrial sensors in the 5G network.

TrendForce’s Insights:

1. Telecoms Actively Validate 5G Redcap in Field Test

With the aim of increasing overall application of global 5G market penetration and raising the average revenue per user (ARPU), international telecom operators have initiated 5G Redcap field validation. Notably, Thailand’s leading telecom, Advanced Info Service (AIS), collaborated with the global equipment supplier Huawei in September 2023 to successfully complete Thailand’s inaugural 5G Redcap commercial test.

The test involved conducting peak data transfer rate measurements, mobility rate assessments, and validation of coexistence between enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) terminal devices (UE) and Redcap across a variety of 5G Redcap commercial terminals operating in 700-2600MHz frequency bands.

Taking a closer look at China’s major telecommunications companies, China Unicom is leveraging Huawei’s extensive equipment deployment capabilities. The incorporation with Unicom’s 5G RedCap module into surveillance cameras at premier 5G Smart Commercial Park, Zhejiang, China. This integration facilitated 4K high-definition image recognition and enabled facial recognition and monitoring of vehicle violations within the park via Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) platforms.

In summary, China’s major telecom operators have initiated substantial 5G Redcap commercial deployments and have enthusiastically adopted key IoT applications such as industrial sensors and video surveillance. The scale of these deployments highlights that, driven by 5G Redcap policies, China’s telecom companies have identified viable scenario applications through intensive field deployments.

In contrast, telecom operators in other regional markets have conducted only a limited number of field validation. They are cautiously assessing the effectiveness of 5G Redcap in the market, resulting in a relatively slower pace of 5G Redcap development.

2. Key to Expanding 5G Redcap: Strengthen Standalone Network Coverage

Despite the initiation of small-scale 5G Redcap field validations by telecom companies, the current penetration rate of standalone networks (SA) still lags behind that of Non-Standalone networks (NSA). This disparity restricts the scale of 5G Redcap development.

International telecom operators recognize that the adoption of 5G Redcap, known for its low cost and rapid user acquisition, can effectively boost 5G NR penetration rates, thus potentially accelerating the deployment of standalone networks and expanding the commercial scale of 5G Redcap.