5G Standalone Tamps Down MCN Growth

January 25, 2022

Worldwide 5-year Growth Forecasted at a 3 Percent CAGR

According to a newly published forecast report by Dell’Oro Group, 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.