An economic analysis of 5G Superfluid networks

Abstract

We target the evaluation of a Superfluid 5G network from an economic point of view. The considered 5G architecture has notably features, such as flexibility, agility, portability and high performance, as shown by the H2020 SUPERFLUIDITY project. The proposed economic model, tailored to the Superfluid network architecture, allows to compute the CAPEX, the OPEX, the Net Present Value (NPV) and the Internal Rate of Return (IRR). Specifically, we apply our model to estimate the impact for the operator of migrating from a legacy 4G to a 5G network. Our preliminary results, obtained over two realistic case studies located in Bologna (Italy) and San Francisco (CA), show that the monthly subscription fee for the subscribers can be kept sufficiently low, i.e., typically around 5 [USD] per user, while allowing a profit for the operator.