Heavy Reading’s 2023 5G Network Analytics & Automation Operator Survey

5G RAN, cloud native technology, and disaggregation introduce agility, scale, and flexibility to the network, but they also present complex challenges for mobile operators. Advanced analytics and automation systems are fundamental to providing real-time service management, generating operational insights, and supporting lifecycle changes. The 5G RAN and 5G core analytics and automation ecosystem are diverse and evolving rapidly.

5G service operation has demanding requirements. To gain real-time actionable insights, operators require the ability to analyze and process numerous network data feeds efficiently across the entire network. Analytic and automation solutions driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) will simplify and enhance operational efficiency and support demanding performance requirements. Furthermore, continuous software release cycles in 5G will rely on automation and analytic processes to support the cadence of cloud native network functions and to compute infrastructure updates.

This report aims to help the industry better understand the status of network analytics and automation and provide insights into operators’ strategies.

Survey Demographics

The Heavy Reading 5G Network Analytics and Automation Survey was conducted online in May 2023. The questionnaire was written by Heavy Reading with input from project sponsors Fujitsu, NETSCOUT, and Spirent. It was promoted to the Light Reading service provider database and received responses from individuals working at operators with mobile network businesses across the globe, with heaviest representation in the United States followed by the Asia Pacific region. Job roles are most represented by network engineering and planning followed by R&D and technical strategy roles.

All responses are confidential and are only ever presented in aggregate form; neither individual nor company names are shared.