Mobile service providers are optimistic about their potential roles as suppliers of multi-access edge computing, where they can play a role in supporting processing cycles “at the edge of the network.”
But the assumptions vary. Some studies include the value of hardware, software and services revenue. Others reflect a narrower definition. Estimates including the value of infrastructure (hardware and software) revenue as well as “edge computing services” will obviously be quite a bit higher than those estimates looking strictly at “edge computing as a service” revenues.
And some estimates might attribute “edge computing as a service” revenues in such a way that partners such as Amazon Web Services or Azure or Google Cloud are providing the actual “computing” but in cooperation with mobile or fixed network service providers who provide facilities or connectivity.
Some estimates might be more granular, breaking out revenues earned by edge computing services that are earned by mobile service or “managed service” providers, data center operators and cloud computing services.
And even those estimates might be too optimistic, partly because much “edge computing” will be supported directly on devices (smartphones, internet of things sensors, vehicles) and not using some MEC processing facility.
It might be reasonable to assume that most eventual MEC revenues earned by all the suppliers--mobile service providers, data centers and cloud computing services--will be in the business-to-business or business customer part of the market, and support use cases other than direct IoT use cases.
The reason is that most consumer “edge computing” operations will support imaging, speech-to-text or other operations conducted on-device. Some believe about half to 80 percent of such smartphone and consumer device “edge computing” operations will be handled directly on the device.
Healthcare wearables likewise might process as much as 60 percent to 80 percent of data right on the device.
And even most Industrial IoT sensors (up to 70 percent) might process workloads solely on-device.Though more complicated “trend” analyses will be conducted remotely, many sensor operations will be of a simpler “open or shut,” “higher or lower change,” threshold reached” readings.
Also, significant amounts of “edge computing” revenue booked by mobile service providers will come from supplying connectivity services and other services such as providing local data center facilities, even for estimates that are perhaps optimistic about the actual role of mobile service providers as suppliers of the actual “edge computing” function.
The point is that estimates of revenue to be earned by mobile service providers from MEC are likely overestimated.
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