Investments in 5G Network Infrastructure to Reach 21.3% of Total Wireless Infrastructure.
Worldwide 5G network infrastructure market revenue will almost double in 2020 to reach
Total wireless infrastructure revenue is expected to decline 4.4% to
'Investment in wireless infrastructure continues to gain momentum, as a growing number of CSPs are prioritizing 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. '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.'
Rising competition among CSPs is causing the pace of 5G adoption to accelerate. New O-RAN (open radio access network) and vRAN (virtualized RAN) ecosystem could disrupt current vendor-lock-in and promote 5G adoption by providing cost-efficient and agile 5G products in the future. Gartner predicts that CSPs in
Table 1: Wireless Infrastructure Spending Forecast, Worldwide, 2019-2020 (Millions of
Segment
2019
2019 Growth (%)
2020
2020 Growth (%)
5G
4,146.6
576.6
8,127.3
96.0
LTE and 4G
20,693.2
1.2
16,402.0
20.8
3G
4,146.6
25.7
2,608.4
37.1
2G
797.4
46.9
472.2
40.8
Small Cells
5,342.7
11.6
5,736.6
7.4
Mobile Core
4,744.7
3.2
4,780.3
0.3
Total
39,871.2
6.2
38,126.7
4.4
Due to rounding, some figures may not add up precisely to the totals shown.
Source: Gartner (
'Despite investment growth rates in 5G being slightly lower in 2020 due to the COVID-19 crisis (excluding
Over the short-term,
Gartner expects that 5G investment will rebound modestly in 2021 as CSPs seek to capitalize on changed behaviors sparked by populations' elevated reliance on communication networks. 5G investment will exceed LTE/4G in 2022.
CSPs will gradually add stand-alone (SA) capabilities to their non-stand-alone (NSA) 5G networks, and Gartner predicts by 2023, 15% of CSPs worldwide will operate stand-alone 5G networks that do not rely on 4G network infrastructure. This will rapidly divert wireless investment away from LTE/4G and spending on legacy RAN infrastructure will rapidly decline.
Gartner clients can learn more in the reports 'Forecast: Communications Service Provider Operational Technology, 2Q20 Update' and 'Forecast Analysis: Communications Service Provider Operational Technology, Worldwide.'
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