Why 6G Needs to Be Built for Enterprise, Not Consumers

April 2025

Telecoms & Connectivity

Sam Barker

VP of Telecoms Market Research

The telecommunications industry is at a turning point. Operators are rolling out new strategies to unlock fresh revenue streams, but one thing is clear: boosting average revenue per user (ARPU) in the consumer market will be a challenge. Most mobile subscribers simply aren’t willing to pay more unless operators significantly invest in new, value-added services.

Tech giants like Amazon, Alphabet and Apple have capitalised on their agility to launch innovative services, often built on the backbone of Tier 1 operators’ infrastructure. Meanwhile, as the chart below shows, operator revenue growth has largely stagnated over the past decade. Even with heavy investment in technologies like 4G and 5G, ARPU hasn’t kept pace.

Global Operator-billed Revenue ($m), 2013–2024

Source: Juniper Research

Operators’ attempts to generate ROI from 5G have mostly fallen short - a situation they can’t afford to repeat with 6G. While consumer revenue is set to decline, Juniper Research sees far greater opportunity in the enterprise sector. We expect this to become a core focus in discussions around 6G and what it truly needs to deliver.

Shifting from Use Cases to Real Revenue

Operators, industry groups and standard-setters working on 6G must think beyond ‘marketable’ use cases and instead prioritise the industries that will actually generate revenue. During 5G’s development, much attention was given to headline-grabbing use cases like remote healthcare, augmented reality, and autonomous vehicles. But while they sounded good, they didn’t deliver on ROI.

Take AR, for example. While 5G could support mobile AR, uptake was limited by both hardware availability and a lack of willingness from users to pay extra for connectivity. The core issue? Consumers don’t want to pay more for mobile services. Even remote surgeries - a highly publicised 5G use case - generated little return for operators, despite the technology being in place.

Lessons for 6G Development

The big lesson from 5G is this: as networks become more advanced, operators must move beyond connectivity and offer consulting and managed services to boost the value of cellular adoption. There’s a large addressable market for 6G, but only if solutions are modular and not confined to a handful of niche use cases.

Future development shouldn’t revolve around faster speeds or lower latency. Many of the use cases pitched in the 5G era were theoretically improved by better performance, but in practice, 4G was often good enough and enterprises didn’t see the need to upgrade.

Instead, 6G needs to enable enterprise autonomy; letting businesses manage their own operations over 6G, whether through private networks or simple API integrations. To tap into future growth, operators must also focus on SMEs, who often lack the internal expertise to deploy cellular services. While individual spending may be lower, the volume opportunity is significant.

What Needs to Happen Next?

As 6G networks take shape, Juniper Research believes the following are essential:

• 6G must be modular - Rather than searching for the next ‘killer app’, the telecoms industry must support a wide range of enterprise needs. 6G should be AI-native and cloud-native, allowing businesses to quickly adapt their network capabilities while reducing costs for Tier 1 operators. Our latest report on 6G development explores this in more detail.
• Service-based architecture must be a priority - This approach, already part of 5G standards, emphasises supporting services over general connectivity. For 6G, it must be front and centre, enabling a modular, API-driven framework that supports broader enterprise adoption.
• Pay-per-usage monetisation is essential - Operators need to enable flexible, ad hoc access to network services rather than tying enterprises into traditional monthly subscriptions. While APIs are already a step in this direction, wider adoption strategies are needed. Our research into network APIs provides further insights.
• ARPU is becoming outdated - With enterprise revenue set to take centre stage, the ARPU metric is losing relevance. Juniper Research recommends operators report average revenue separately for consumer and enterprise segments going forward.

6G standardisation officially began in 2024, with the ITU designating it as IMT-2030, signalling that commercial availability is expected in the early 2030s. Juniper Research forecasts initial deployments within the next five years, with wider commercial rollouts expected after 2030.

As VP of Telecoms Market Research at Juniper Research, Sam produces high-quality research on telecommunications technologies and the future of digital content. His recent reports include CPaaS, Direct-to-Cell, and Operator Revenue Strategies.