Voice-over-5G minutes to grow 500% to reach 4.7 trn in 2028: Juniper Research

The total Voice-over-5G (Vo5G) minutes will grow sharply at 500% over 2023 to reach 4.7 trillion in 2028; representing 42% of total minutes, according to a Juniper Research report released on Monday.

To capitalise on this growth, the research firm has urged operators to develop enterprise-facing solutions to monetise the rise in demand for 5G voice services from enterprises.

“Operators must leverage the highly virtualised network architectures to rapidly launch new services such as programmable voice, call masking and flash calling to maximise 5G voice revenue,” it said.

Voice-over-5G utilises the 5G network core to provide enhanced voice services, including ultra-high voice definition and the ability to integrate IP-based solutions over voice.

At the same time, Juniper Research has forecasted that operators will experience significant declines in voice revenue from consumer mobile subscriptions, leading to a decrease in the value of the voice market from $230 billion in 2023 to $182 billion in 2028.

It recommended that operators must offset this decline with new revenue streams, including the development of new business-focused voice services.

The research firm also mentioned that the launch of the GSMA’s Open Gateway in 2023 is an “ideal platform” to rapidly implement these new voice services.

To maximise future voice revenue, Juniper Research recommended operators to implement voice firewalls that can differentiate between P2P voice and business voice traffic.

“This will enable operators to charge enterprises a premium for voice, in a similar fashion to the business messaging ecosystem established today,” it said.

Additionally, the research firm said that 5G networks will enable operators to better compete against over-the-top (OTT) voice services, as the fifth-generation technology allows for swift deployments of new technologies, such as voice firewalls, which can block fraudulent voice traffic in the real-time.