Slow Uptake for 5G Standalone Drags on Mobile Core Network Growth, According to Dell'Oro Group

Worldwide 5-year Growth Forecasted at a 3 Percent CAGR

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Jan 19, 2022, 08:00 ET

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Jan. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a newly published forecast report by Dell'Oro Group, the trusted source for market information about the telecommunications, networks, and data center IT industries, the slow uptake of 5G Standalone networks reduces Mobile Core Network (MCN) growth. Worldwide MCN 5-year growth is forecasted at a 3 percent compounded annual growth rate (CAGR).

"The cumulative revenue forecast for the period 2022 to 2026 is over $50 billion. The overall revenues and the CAGR have been dampened by the muted uptake in 5G SA networks," according to Dave Bolan, Research Director at Dell'Oro Group. "5G SA network deployments have not matched the hype, with only 19 networks launched to date," Bolan continued.

"CSPs have three choices for offering 5G: Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS), 5G Non-standalone (5G NSA), and 5G SA. Only 5G SA requires the new 5G Core and many CSPs seem content for the time being to stick with DSS and 5G NSA. At the same time, CSPs are evaluating the option of moving 5G workloads to the public cloud, which is delaying the market uptake for 5G SA," Bolan added.

Additional highlights from the report:

5G MCN, IMS Core, and Multi-Access Network Computing (MEC) will have positive growth rates for the forecast period while 4G MCN will experience negative growth.
By 2026, virtually all businesses will be container-based cloud-native network functions.

About the Report
Dell'Oro Group's Mobile Core Network & Multi-Access Edge Computing 5-Year January Forecast Report offers a complete overview of the market for Wireless Packet Core including MEC for the User Plane Function, Policy, Subscriber Data Management, and IMS Core with historical data, where applicable, to the present. The report provides a comprehensive overview of market trends by network function implementation (Non-NFV and NFV), covering revenue, licenses, average selling price, and regional forecasts for various network functions. To learn more about this report, please contact us at [email protected].

About Dell'Oro Group
Dell'Oro Group is a market research firm that specializes in strategic competitive analysis in the telecommunications, networks, and data center IT markets. Our firm provides in-depth quantitative data and qualitative analysis to facilitate critical, fact-based business decisions. For more information, contact Dell'Oro Group at +1.650.622.9400 or visit www.delloro.com.

SOURCE Dell'Oro Group