Gartner forecasts that global 5G wireless network infrastructure revenue will nearly double from 2019 to 2020.
The market research firm projects 5G network infrastructure revenue will reach £3.43 billion in 2020, up from approximately £1.8 billion in 2019—an increase of roughly 89%.
Gartner notes that investments in 5G New Radio (NR) network infrastructure accounted for about 6% of total wireless infrastructure revenue for communications service providers (CSPs) in 2019, and estimates this share will rise to around 12% in 2020.
Sylvain Fabre, Senior Research Director at Gartner, explained that 5G wireless network infrastructure revenue will nearly double because early 5G rollouts in 2019 rely on non-standalone (NSA) technology. NSA lets operators introduce 5G services more quickly by deploying 5G NR equipment alongside existing 4G core network infrastructure.
In 2020, CSPs are expected to begin wider rollouts of standalone (SA) 5G architecture, which requires both 5G NR equipment and a 5G core network. This transition should lower operational costs for service providers and deliver improved performance and capabilities for end users.
Separately, research from Information Services Group (ISG) earlier this month observed that enterprises in the Nordic region view 5G mobile services as an accelerator for the wider adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) solutions. ISG highlighted that pilots and initial deployments are emerging across several industries, including healthcare, manufacturing, smart buildings and connected vehicles, where 5G can enable new use cases and scale IoT implementations.
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