Deloitte Insights and our research centers deliver proprietary research designed to help organizations turn their aspirations into action.

DELOITTE INSIGHTS

  • Home
  • Spotlight
    • Weekly Global Economic Outlook
    • Top 10 Reading Guide
    • Future of Sports
    • Technology Management
    • Growth & Competitive Advantage
  • Topics
    • Economics
    • Environmental, Social, & Governance
    • Operations
    • Strategy
    • Technology
    • Workforce
    • Industries
  • More
    • About
    • Deloitte Insights Magazine
    • Press Room Podcasts

DELOITTE RESEARCH CENTERS

  • Cross-Industry
    • Home
    • Workforce Trends
    • Enterprise Growth & Innovation
    • Technology & Transformation
    • Environmental & Social Issues
  • Economics
    • Home
    • Consumer Spending
    • Housing
    • Business Investment
    • Globalization & International Trade
    • Fiscal & Monetary Policy
    • Sustainability, Equity & Climate
    • Labor Markets
    • Prices & Inflation
  • Consumer
    • Home
    • Automotive
    • Consumer Products
    • Food
    • Retail, Wholesale & Distribution
    • Hospitality
    • Airlines & Transportation
  • Energy & Industrials
    • Home
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Chemicals & Specialty Materials
    • Engineering & Construction
    • Mining & Metals
    • Oil & Gas
    • Power & Utilities
    • Renewable Energy
  • Financial Services
    • Home
    • Banking & Capital Markets
    • Commercial Real Estate
    • Insurance
    • Investment Management
    • Cross Financial Services
  • Government & Public Services
    • Home
    • Defense, Security & Justice
    • Government Health
    • State & Local Government
    • Whole of Government
    • Transportation & Infrastructure
    • Human Services
    • Higher Education
  • Life Sciences & Health Care
    • Home
    • Hospitals, Health Systems & Providers​
    • Pharmaceutical Manufacturers​
    • Health Plans & Payers​
    • Medtech & Health Tech Organizations
  • Tech, Media & Telecom
    • Home
    • Technology
    • Media & Entertainment
    • Telecommunications
    • Semiconductor
    • Sports
Deloitte.com
Deloitte Insights logo
  • SPOTLIGHT
    • Weekly Global Economic Outlook
    • Top 10 Reading Guide
    • Future of Sports
    • Technology Management
    • Growth & Competitive Advantage
  • TOPICS
    • Economics
    • Environmental, Social, & Governance
    • Operations
    • Strategy
    • Technology
    • Workforce
    • Industries
  • MORE
    • About
    • Deloitte Insights Magazine
    • Press Room Podcasts
    • Research Centers
  • Welcome!

    For personalized content and settings, go to your My Deloitte Dashboard

    Latest Insights

    Creating opportunity at the intersection of climate disruption and regulatory change

    Article
     • 
    7-min read

    Better questions about generative AI

    Article
     • 
    2-min read

    Recommendations

    Tech Trends 2025

    Article

    TMT Predictions 2025

    Article

    About Deloitte Insights

    About Deloitte Insights

    Deloitte Insights Magazine, issue 33

    Magazine

    Topics for you

    • Business Strategy & Growth
    • Leadership
    • Operations
    • Marketing & Sales
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Emerging Technologies
    • Economy

    Watch & Listen

    Dbriefs

    Stay informed on the issues impacting your business with Deloitte's live webcast series. Gain valuable insights and practical knowledge from our specialists while earning CPE credits.

    Deloitte Insights Podcasts

    Join host Tanya Ott as she interviews influential voices discussing the business trends and challenges that matter most to your business today. 

    Subscribe

    Deloitte Insights Newsletters

    Looking to stay on top of the latest news and trends? With MyDeloitte you'll never miss out on the information you need to lead. Simply link your email or social profile and select the newsletters and alerts that matter most to you.

Welcome back

To join via SSO please click on the key button below
Still not a member? Join My Deloitte

The 5G network slicing opportunity

by Naima Hoque Essing, Dan Littmann
  • Save for later
  • Share
    • Share on Facebook
    • Share on Twitter
    • Share on Linkedin
    • Share by email
3 minute read 19 August 2020

The 5G network slicing opportunity Managing public 5G network slices represents a growth opportunity for communication service providers—if they can overcome security concerns

3 minute read 19 August 2020
  • Naima Hoque Essing United States
  • Dan Littmann United States
  • Save for later
  • Share
    • Share on Facebook
    • Share on Twitter
    • Share on Linkedin
    • Share by email

As communication service providers deploy 5G, they are looking to use network slicing to push growth opportunities beyond offering simple connectivity to selling value-added digital services.

The advent of 5G networks introduces new network functionality for communication service providers (CSPs), notably including network slicing, which enables them to carve out and create multiple end-to-end networks on a common infrastructure platform. CSPs can automatically configure and optimize each network slice to support performance requirements for a wide variety of customer use cases, applications, and traffic assigned to that network.

Learn more

Explore the Thinking Fast series library

Subscribe and never miss a charticle

Learn about Deloitte's services

Go straight to smart. Get the Deloitte Insights app

While significant technology and standards-based obstacles remain, network slicing is emerging as a potential source of future revenue growth for communication service providers. CSPs intend to use network slicing to move beyond selling simple connectivity to offering enterprise customers more advanced connectivity options—specifically, guaranteed levels of network performance on a given network slice. It remains to be seen whether (and how much) enterprises will pay for bespoke network connectivity, but CSPs see these types of opportunities as ultimately driving ROI on their 5G infrastructure build, so they are staking much on getting this right.

Enterprises, however, can choose to build and manage their own private network slices, particularly as the United States, Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and other countries plan to allocate spectrum for private 5G networks.

In a recent Deloitte survey of leaders in enterprises on the forefront of adopting 5G, 43% expressed willingness to use a combination of private and public network slices depending on the use case, likely deploying private networks within the four walls of the enterprise environment and public networks for broader WAN connectivity. Faced with the choice, another 25% preferred CSP-managed public network slices, while 24% wanted to own and operate their 5G network outright.1 Ostensibly, enterprises considering private over public networks seek greater control over their networks’ configuration, performance, and security.

Concerns over network security, however, could emerge as a major stumbling block to enterprise adoption of public network slicing. Beyond specific application criteria, network and data security concerns constitute the largest factor influencing enterprise decisions to adopt public network slices, followed by concerns about service quality and reliability.2 In an environment where companies regularly fight data breaches and cyberattacks and where every connected device becomes an access point for nefarious activity, strict control over device authentication and network access is paramount to both enterprises and CSPs. With 43% of enterprises desiring hybrid network structures, where devices will need to seamlessly roam back and forth between private (5G and WiFi) and public networks, who will control device and network access? To what extent should devices be homed to enterprise versus CSP networks? The resolution of these types of questions will determine adoption rates for network slicing.

To avoid missing out on this opportunity, CSPs should step up and take responsibility for positioning carrier-managed network slices as having the benefits of a private network without the cost and complexity of having to manage it themselves. And while public slices are likely to be the more cost-effective solution, they can also be equally if not more secure.

Acknowledgments

Cover image by: Viktor Koen

Endnotes
    1. Dan Littmann et al., Enterprises building the future with 5G and WiFi-6, Deloitte Insights, June 1, 2020. Deloitte surveyed 415 IT and LOB executives considering 5G adoption within the next three years. View in article

    2. Deloitte internal analysis. View in article

Show moreShow less

Topics in this article

Telecommunications , Center for Technology, Media & Telecommunications

Technology, Media & Telecommunications

Deloitte’s Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) industry practice brings together one of the world’s largest group of specialists respected for helping shape many of the world’s most recognized TMT brands—and helping those brands thrive in a digital world.​

Learn more
Get in touch
Contact
  • Kevin Westcott
  • Principal, US Telecom, Media & Entertainment lead
  • Deloitte Consulting LLP
  • kewestcott@deloitte.com
  • +1 213 553 1714

Download Subscribe

Related content

img Trending

Data management barriers to AI success

Article 4 years ago
img Trending

Increasingly, video streaming doesn’t mean ad-free

Article
img Trending

Will gaming keep growing when the lockdowns end?

Article 4 years ago
img Trending

Can 5G unleash next-generation digital experiences in the home?

Article 5 years ago

More from the Thinking Fast series

  • The most valued technology gadgets of the last decade Article5 years ago
  • Can tech companies reach older consumers during the pandemic? Article4 years ago
  • How streaming is changing the music industry Article5 years ago
  • Closing the tech conference gender gap Article5 years ago
  • Why organizations are moving to the cloud Article5 years ago
  • The satellite broadband industry is moving at hyperspeed Article5 years ago
Naima Hoque Essing

Naima Hoque Essing

Research manager | Deloitte Center for Technology, Media & Telecom

Naima Hoque Essing is a research manager in Deloitte’s Center for Technology, Media & Telecommunications, Deloitte Services LP. Her research focuses on the impact of emerging technology, business and regulatory trends on industries and enterprises. Before joining Deloitte, Naima spent fifteen years as a buy-side investment analyst covering the telecommunication & communication equipment sectors. She has a Bachelor of Science in Economics from The Wharton School and a Master of Science from The MIT Sloan School of Management.

  • nhoqueessing@deloitte.com
Dan Littmann

Dan Littmann

Principal | Deloitte Consulting LLP

A Deloitte Consulting LLP principal, Dan Littmann specializes in helping clients within the telecommunications industry to define growth strategies and accelerate the launch of new products and services. He develops flexible strategies, processes, and business models capable of adapting to the rapid pace of technological, competitive, and regulatory change. Littmann has presented and led primary research efforts on the evolving digital ecosystem and its impact on wireless and wireline network providers.

  • dlittmann@deloitte.com
  • +1 312 486 2224

Share article highlights

See something interesting? Simply select text and choose how to share it:

Email a customized link that shows your highlighted text.
Copy a customized link that shows your highlighted text.
Copy your highlighted text.

The 5G network slicing opportunity has been saved

The 5G network slicing opportunity has been removed

An Article Titled The 5G network slicing opportunity already exists in Saved items

Invalid special characters found 
Forgot password

To stay logged in, change your functional cookie settings.

OR

Social login not available on Microsoft Edge browser at this time.

Connect Accounts

Connect your social accounts

This is the first time you have logged in with a social network.

You have previously logged in with a different account. To link your accounts, please re-authenticate.

Log in with an existing social network:

To connect with your existing account, please enter your password:

OR

Log in with an existing site account:

To connect with your existing account, please enter your password:

Forgot password

Subscribe

to receive more business insights, analysis, and perspectives from Deloitte Insights
✓ Link copied to clipboard

Deloitte Insights and our research centers deliver proprietary research designed to help organizations turn their aspirations into action.

Deloitte Insights

  • Home
  • Topics
  • Industries
  • About Deloitte Insights

DELOITTE RESEARCH CENTERS

  • Cross-Industry
  • Economics
  • Consumer
  • Energy & Industrials
  • Financial Services
  • Government & Public Services
  • Life Sciences & Health Care
  • Tech, Media & Telecom
Deloitte logo

Learn about Deloitte’s offerings, people, and culture as a global provider of audit, assurance, consulting, financial advisory, risk advisory, tax, and related services.

© 2025. See Terms of Use for more information.

Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, a UK private company limited by guarantee ("DTTL"), its network of member firms, and their related entities. DTTL and each of its member firms are legally separate and independent entities. DTTL (also referred to as "Deloitte Global") does not provide services to clients. In the United States, Deloitte refers to one or more of the US member firms of DTTL, their related entities that operate using the "Deloitte" name in the United States and their respective affiliates. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting. Please see www.deloitte.com/about to learn more about our global network of member firms.

  • About Deloitte
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy
  • Data Privacy Framework
  • Cookies
  • Cookie Settings
  • Legal Information for Job Seekers
  • Labor Condition Applications
  • Do Not Sell My Personal Information