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February 3, 2025

RFS: Vision for 2025

As our colleagues, customers, and friends in China return to the office after welcoming the Year of the Snake and look forward to a great year ahead, the RFS team has come together to share their thoughts on the big trends we will see over the next 12 months. From how connectivity will change in vertical markets to incoming to mission-critical standards - see what our team anticipates for the rest of 2025 and beyond.

Radio Frequency Systems,
TAGS : PREDICTIONS

Last week, our Suzhou colleagues celebrated the beginning of the Year of the Snake and looked forward to a year of happiness and prosperity. As they return to the office, we are also taking the opportunity to look forward and share our thoughts on the biggest industry trends we will see in 2025.

From changes in industry standards to new approaches to connectivity in vertical markets, here is what the RFS team thinks the year ahead holds:

(Still) Overcoming Space Issues

It’s not a new problem, but it is still one that plagues Mobile Network Operators – space. Accommodating the equipment needed to support all standards expected from MNOs in 2025 is still a challenge. Although updates for 5G Advance can be largely software-driven, 6G is expected by 2030, and planning for the infrastructure to support it is already well underway.

The fact that limited space on macro sites is not a new challenge for operators means many of the avenues to save space have already been explored, and operators are looking at ways to make marginal gains that streamline the infrastructure at the top of the tower.

As different operators take different approaches to achieve this, we expect to see hardware providers offer even more flexibility and work with operators to design bespoke systems tailored to their varying needs.  

Delivering Private 5G

Businesses have been sold a private 5G vision – now they need to implement it. To get a private 5G network up and running, businesses face an array of challenges. They need to design the system architecture, apply for the license required to run the network, and translate the system design into a fully operational real-world network, and that is, before they get to the most important aspect – deriving ROI.

In 2025, we expect to see more collaboration between businesses and multiple private 5G specialists to deliver Private 5G networks in a way that allows businesses to extract value from the deployment from the outset. It is a trend that we saw up close through our partnership with COCUS in 2024, and one we expect to continue into 2026.

5G Broadcasting

5G broadcasting will continue its journey to commercial reality as broadcasters demonstrate how high bandwidth and low latency can support features like ultra-high-definition (UHD), 8K video streaming, and augmented reality (AR). In addition to the well-publicized benefits for consumer audiences, we will also see how 5G can positively impact live event broadcasting production, namely, sports and entertainment. Previous efforts in this area have seen mixed success, but the end of 2024 saw progress. We expect the focus on optimizing 5G so that it can be used to deliver high-quality streams with a minimal lag to continue a positive trajectory.

In Vertical Markets

We are working with customers in dozens of vertical markets and keep pace with all the changing needs each of them has when it comes to connectivity. Here are examples from just a few of the big vertical market trends we expect to see in 2025.

  • Windfarms: Enhancing Infrastructure with Connectivity

    The keyword for wind farms in 2025 is bigger. With the push for increased renewable energy capacity, wind farms are expanding in scale to maximize power generation. This means bigger turbines and more of them in each wind farm.

    As these wind farms grow, connectivity becomes an essential factor, playing a crucial role in ensuring operational efficiency, safety, and reliability. Predictive maintenance helps identify potential issues before they arise. Enhanced performance monitoring allows operators to optimize power output and integrate wind energy more seamlessly into the electrical grid. IoT-enabled sensors and automated control systems, all need robust communications infrastructure to function. We anticipate demand for better connectivity to the use of these more sophisticated technologies.

  • Manufacturing: Building a Connectivity Foundation for Next-Gen Tech

    The smart manufacturing market is growing exponentially and is expected to reach $241.0 billion by 2028, according to Markets and Markets. The continued rise of robotics, data-driven applications to improve factory performance, and analytics for predictive maintenance, to name just a few, are transforming the manufacturing landscape and driving productivity. As more manufacturers look to embrace these technologies, we anticipate an increased focus on improving the connectivity backbone of manufacturing facilities to ensure the communication technology needed to support these applications.

  • Transport: A New Era of Mission-Critical for Rail

    The need for mission-critical networks obviously spans dozens of industries, but in 2025, a big focus of attention will be on how it is evolving in the rail industry. The FRMCS (Future Railway Mobile Communication System) is set to be the next-generation communication standard for the rail industry. Developed by the International Union of Railways (UIC) and 3GPP, FRMCS touches many aspects of communication in transport settings, but one of its most significant aspects is its plan to use 5G for mission-critical communications.

    5G for mission-critical means rail operators will need to think differently about the network infrastructure they have in place. They will need to incorporate additional resilience, for example, ensuring continuous power and meeting more stringent fire safety regulations to allow the cable to operate in harsh conditions. Only then is it a viable option for mission-critical.

  • Warehouses: Balancing Business Critical Connectivity and Green Initiatives

    Warehouse operators building new facilities are realizing that by hitting green credential targets, they are creating a wireless, unfriendly environment. To tackle this, there can be a temptation to install active indoor wireless solutions. But the drawback is that they are energy-hungry and eat into the net benefit of their green initiatives.

    Our hope for 2025 is that warehouse operators will be persuaded of the benefits of passive systems as they look to upgrade the communications systems in existing warehouses. Long-life and using minimal energy, they can ensure complete business-critical and mission-critical coverage with a low carbon cost. We also expect to see connectivity considered at the planning stage of new warehouses. This gives an opportunity to streamline the process of achieving complete, energy-efficient coverage; reducing costs, warehouse downtime, and deployment complexity.

  • Data Centers: Making Mission Critical Work Harder

    Data Centers are no strangers to cable. Each one uses thousands, if not tens of thousands of kilometers of cable to connect servers, and generally, the requirement is good quality, long life, high-performance cable at the lowest possible price.

    However, alongside core data center equipment, there is also a need for a mission-critical communication system that covers every square meter of the site to ensure safety. This is where there is potential to roll out cable that works harder. If Data Centers choose to use a hybrid-cable as part of their mission-critical network, not only do they deliver connectivity and run uninterruptible power supplies for the most robust set-up possible, but they can also incorporate heat-sensitive fiber.

    This supercharges the safety benefits of the mission-critical system as not only is it there to ensure communications in an emergency, but it can also sense changes in heat that could give advanced warnings of malfunctions across the site that pose a fire risk. All in a single cable.

  • Mining: Feeding Data Hunger

    As Industrial IoT, AI, and robotics become even more prevalent in modern mines to drive efficiency, the appetite for connectivity is growing exponentially. Essential for collecting the data that unlocks functionality like predictive maintenance, optimization of resources, and enhanced operations, mine operators need communications infrastructure with significantly more capacity. However, this cannot be at the expense of ruggedization, the ability to move and reuse equipment as mines expand, and reliability.

In 2025 and beyond, mining operators will be reaching for equipment to increase data capacity without compromising quality as they look to embrace the benefits smart mining offers.

Like many companies, making predictions for the year’s biggest trends at the start of each year is an RFS tradition. This year, however, the trends our team has pulled together span a broader range of topics than ever before, and we’re looking forward to working with customers and partners to help tap into the trends and the varied opportunities and challenges this presents.