Ultra reliable, low-latency communications (URLLC) accounts for the largest number of standard essential patent (SEP) declarations for 5G. This is based on data from GreyB Services, a specialist in intellectual property (IP) for the communications sector.
However, URLLC’s strong showing of URLLC does not show up in market offerings. Instead, 5G market propositions feature mobile broadband for consumers which map to the enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) category. The difference suggests a disconnect between supply-side technologies, where innovators have invested, and commercial outcomes that should address demand from gaming and enterprise types of application.
Explaining the difference is complex. It involves the life-cycle steps of taking innovation through standardization into market ready networking equipment. Then, communications service providers (CSPs) face decisions in balancing the rewards from new propositions against the costs of incremental technology licensing fees and business model changes. Value-chain bottlenecks also arise when insufficient evidence about end-user demand results in corporate hesitancy.