Recent research from SNS Telecom & IT indicated that annual spending on private 5G network equipment will reach nearly $3.5 billion globally by the end of 2027. While private LTE networks are a well-established market and have been around for more than a decade, said SNS, private networks based on 3GPP-defined 5G specifications are just beginning to move beyond proof-of-concept trials and small-scale deployments to production-grade implementations of standalone 5G networks, which are laying the foundation for Industry 4.0 and advanced application scenarios. Compared to LTE technology, private 5G networks can address far more demanding performance requirements in terms of throughput, latency, reliability, availability and connection density, say proponents. “In particular, 5G’s URLLC and mMTC capabilities, along with a future-proof transition path to 6G networks in the 2030s, have positioned it as a viable alternative to physically wired connections for industrial-grade communications between machines, robots and control systems,” said the research firm. Furthermore, 5G’s wider coverage radius per radio node, scalability, determinism, security features and mobility support have stirred strong interest in its potential as a replacement for interference-prone unlicensed wireless technologies in industrial IoT environments, where the number of connected sensors and other endpoints is expected to increase significantly over the coming years. “As end user organizations in the United States, Germany, France, China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and other countries ramp up their digitization and automation initiatives, some private 5G installations have progressed to a stage where practical and tangible benefits – particularly efficiency gains, cost savings and worker safety – are becoming increasingly evident,” said SNS analysts. Private 5G Predicted to Top $3 Billion by 2027 5G FWA services have been on a dramatic growth trajectory in the U.S., absorbing esentially all broadband subscriber growth in the market since mid-2022 and amassing more than 600,000 to 700,000 net adds per quarter, according to analysis by market research firm Opensignal. This is despite the U.S. being a mature broadband market with nearly 97 percent broadband adoption and modest household growth. The two primary FWA players in the U.S. are Verizon and T-Mobile. Verizon introduced 5G Home Internet in 2018 on mmWave, expanded to the rest of its 5G network in 2022 and now has more than 3 million customers. T-Mobile launched 5G Home Internet available to 30 million households in 2021 and has since amassed more than five million subscribers as of Q1 2024. What’s more, the rapid development of 5G FWA networks in the U.S. has intensified the level of competition in the fixed broadband market. Based on Opensignal’s observation of FWA Wi-Fi networks, the percentage of housing units that are passed by two or more high-speed broadband providers (either cable, fiber, or FWA) has increased from 50 percent in Q1 2022 to 78 percent in Q4 2023, translating into an increase of nearly 40 million homes. And while FWA has been positioned historically as a way to close the digital divide in underserved rural areas, the U.S. is proving the business case for urban deployment is just as strong. According to Opensignal, FWA is nearly as popular in urban areas as in rural ones, as FWA providers have so far claimed around 6 percent of the market in urban areas and 7 percent in rural ones. Source: Andreesson Horowitz U.S. residential net adds by ISP type, Q1 2017 - Q1 2024 (thousands) Source: Opensignal 1,500 1,000 500 0 500 1Q17 2Q17 3Q17 4Q17 1Q18 2Q18 3Q18 4Q18 1Q19 2Q19 3Q19 4Q19 1Q20 2Q20 3Q20 4Q20 1Q21 2Q21 3Q21 4Q21 1Q22 2Q22 3Q22 4Q22 1Q23 2Q23 3Q23 4Q23 1Q24 FWA First large-scale 5G FWA deployments Coblecos Telcos 5G FWA Reshaping U.S. Fixed Broadband Market ICYMI 21 THE CHANNEL MANAGER’S PLAYBOOK
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