Research from Gartner is predicting that even though total wireless infrastructure revenue is set to decline 4.4% annually to $38.1 billion in 2020, investments in 5G networks 2020 are expected to almost double year-on-year to reach $8.127 billion.
This growth, identified in the Wireless Infrastructure Spending Forecast, Worldwide, 2019-2020 report comes despite global investment growth rates in 5G, excluding those in Greater China and Japan, projected to be slightly lower in 2020 due to the Covid-19 crisis. The analyst adds that communications service providers (CSPs) in all regions are quickly using new and discretionary spend to build out the 5G network and 5G as a platform. Investment by communications service providers (CSPs) in 5G network infrastructure accounted for 10.4% of total wireless infrastructure revenue in 2019 but this figure is calculated to leap in 2020, reaching 21.3%.
Looking at the drivers for this growth, Gartner said rising competition among CSPs as causing the pace of 5G adoption to accelerate. It added that the new open radio access network (O-RAN) and virtualised RAN (vRAN) ecosystem could disrupt current vendor-lock-in and promote 5G adoption by providing cost-efficient and agile 5G products in the future.
“Investment in wireless infrastructure continues to gain momentum, as a growing number of CSPs are prioritising 5G projects by reusing current assets including radio spectrum bandwidths, base stations, core network and transport network, and transitioning LTE/4G spend to maintenance mode,” said Kosei Takiishi, senior research director at Gartner commenting on the Wireless Infrastructure Spending Forecast, Worldwide, 2019-2020 report. “Early 5G adopters are driving greater competition among CSPs. In addition, governments and regulators are fostering mobile network development and betting that it will be a catalyst and multiplier for widespread economic growth across many industries.”
Gartner expects that 5G investment will rebound modestly in 2021 as CSPs seek to capitalise on changed behaviours sparked by populations’ elevated reliance on communication networks. It forecasts 5G investment to exceed LTE/4G in 2022 and that CSPs will gradually add stand-alone (SA) capabilities to their non-stand-alone (NSA) 5G networks. This should mean that by 2023, 15% of CSPs worldwide will operate stand-alone 5G networks that do not rely on 4G network infrastructure.
Looking at the drivers for this growth, Gartner said rising competition among CSPs as causing the pace of 5G adoption to accelerate. It added that the new open radio access network (O-RAN) and virtualised RAN (vRAN) ecosystem could disrupt current vendor-lock-in and promote 5G adoption by providing cost-efficient and agile 5G products in the future.
“Investment in wireless infrastructure continues to gain momentum, as a growing number of CSPs are prioritising 5G projects by reusing current assets including radio spectrum bandwidths, base stations, core network and transport network, and transitioning LTE/4G spend to maintenance mode,” said Kosei Takiishi, senior research director at Gartner commenting on the Wireless Infrastructure Spending Forecast, Worldwide, 2019-2020 report. “Early 5G adopters are driving greater competition among CSPs. In addition, governments and regulators are fostering mobile network development and betting that it will be a catalyst and multiplier for widespread economic growth across many industries.”
Gartner expects that 5G investment will rebound modestly in 2021 as CSPs seek to capitalise on changed behaviours sparked by populations’ elevated reliance on communication networks. It forecasts 5G investment to exceed LTE/4G in 2022 and that CSPs will gradually add stand-alone (SA) capabilities to their non-stand-alone (NSA) 5G networks. This should mean that by 2023, 15% of CSPs worldwide will operate stand-alone 5G networks that do not rely on 4G network infrastructure.
