NTT, Qualcomm to speed up private 5G adoption at the edge

Cloud infrastructure services provider NTT and chipmaker Qualcomm have partnered to speed up private adoption of the fifth-generation (5G) technology that’s critical to powering AI at the edge. 

A private 5G network as a service is an alternative to buying, building and managing a private mobile network. According to a report published on August 2022, analyst firm International Data Corporation (IDC), enterprise adoption of private 5G as a market, will exceed $8 billion by 2026. With enterprises accelerating digitisation, more connectivity and more devices are needed, it said.

Qualcomm and NTT will work together to deliver 5G-ready devices with Qualcomm Technologies’ 5G chipsets with AI models built in to enhance AI at the edge through various applications, such as image recognition, with capabilities ranging from counting items and identifying object characteristics to verifying workers wearing safety masks or hardhats (PPE), the company said in a statement.  

They will use their combined expertise to meet the need for 5G-enabled devices that support use cases, such as push-to-talk devices, augmented reality headsets, computer vision cameras and sensors at the edge across the manufacturing, automotive, logistics and other industries.

Deploying AI applications through NTT’s edge-as-a-service will further assist enterprises with workplace safety, optimisation, and security, said the company.

“Together, we will strengthen the 5G ecosystem delivering the devices our customers require in a simple and cost-effective way, empowering them as they continue along their digital transformation journey,” said Shahid Ahmed, Executive Vice President, New Ventures & Innovation at NTT Ltd. 

As part of its extended collaboration, NTT also announced its device-as-a-service offering, a software services product designed to help enterprises use 'devices' in the cloud to investigate new avenues of innovation, to boost IT maintenance productivity and to reduce costs. For customers, this would mean simplifying device lifecycle management including easier access, upgrade and recycle of 5G and edge devices. 

An early entrant into the private 5G space, where it ventured less than two years ago, NTT claimed that it is establishing an ecosystem with partners like Celona, Cisco, Microsoft, and VMware to accelerate adoption in this space.