As the disruption of 5G is making its way everywhere, by becoming a reality with Augmented Reality (AR) / Virtual Reality (VR) technologies and bringing the new experiences for both consumer and enterprise segments. Enterprises are exploring new services like remote maintenance guidance, drones for varied services, and new business models that support B2B and B2B2X.

The urgency and need for heading towards 5G are required, as 5G offers gigabit data rates, low latency, reliability, and availability. It also opens up enormous opportunities for digital telecom companies and ecosystem partners to collaborate.

Discussion around 5G monetization is often riddled with acronyms and technical jargon. Let's start by defining four of the most common terms you'll hear:

1. Network-as-a-service (NaaS): Think of NaaS as a subscription service for enterprises. This business model offers on-demand purchasing so that companies can adjust their 5G networks based on their needs.
2. Value-add services: It's not enough for CSPs to have 5G. Value-add services create blurry adjacencies between what a CSP can offer and the organizations they must work with to run and optimize the network. In business-to-consumer (B2C), CSPs work with music venues and sports stadiums to create immersive, live experiences with their 5G networks. A CSP wouldn't be able to do that on their own - they need a way in with another organization to add value to the network.
3. Network slicing: Say an operator wants to offer fixed wireless access and enhanced security for mobile. They can offer a dedicated "slice" of their 5G network. Each slice meets service-specific requirements based on customer needs.

Policy control and charging functionality is one of the Network function of the 5G core network. It assists service data flow detection, policy enforcement, and flow-based charging. PCRF allows next-generation communications service providers (CSPs) to provide diverse use cases as a complete solution. Features of 5G PCRF

1. Real-time management of the network and subscriber policy
2. Effective routing and scheduling of network traffic
3. Centralized view of subscriber context from device, network, location, and billing data
4. Data-based insights into revenue assurance and bandwidth management
5. Premium differentiated voice services to the user(s)
6. Prioritizing calls to emergency numbers in next-gen networks

5G on its own is powerful. When coupled with technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT) and augmented reality, it opens up the door to tons of network monetization opportunities. Consider these five examples: 1. Drones
2. The Internet of Things (IoT)
3. Augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR)
4. Artificial Intelligence (AI)
5. Autonomous vehicles

An equally crucial aspect to 5G monetization is having a clear business case for their operators' offerings. But to build such business cases, operators must first gain a clear understanding of the business models available to them. Every business model will require an understanding of what use cases the service will leverage, as well as how it will be monetized. This is more difficult than it may seem, and we can illustrate the difficulty with an example. Virtual Reality is often cited as a killer use case for 5G. But to effectively monetize VR service providers must go further and ask themselves where the money will come from. So, the road from use case to monetization must move through a clear understanding of the business models we will apply to monetize those use cases and the impressive capabilities of 5G.