5G Roamers to Surpass 200 Million by
2026 as Operators Pushed to Accelerate Rollouts
4,500%
Growth in 5G Roaming Subscribers Over Next 5 Years
A new Juniper Research study
has found that the global number of roaming subscribers using 5G services will
increase from 4.5 million in 2021 to 210 million in 2026. As the international
travel industry recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, it recommends that
operators must now focus on increasing 5G roaming support to accommodate the
future rise in demand for data when roaming over 5G networks.
The new research, 5G Roaming Strategies: Future
Outlook, Opportunities & Market Forecasts 2021-2026, urges roaming
vendors to develop 5G-enabled roaming features such as:
- Roaming analytics
- Sponsored roaming
- Steering of roaming
These services will support the management of an increasing
number of 5G roaming connections, the rise in demand for 5G roaming data, and
help operators to maximise 5G roaming monetisation.
5G Roaming Data to Represent 115 Million Hours of 4K Video by 2026
The report predicts that, as 5G roaming proliferates, vendor competition around
the 5G-enabled roaming services mentioned above will intensify. Subscribers
will expect comparable levels of bandwidth and latency when roaming over 5G to
home network connectivity, and roaming vendors must accommodate this demand via
value-added services.
The study projects that global roaming data traffic from 5G subscribers will
increase from 2.6 PB in 2021 to 770 PB by 2026; representing enough data to
stream 115 million hours of 4K video from platforms such as Netflix.
5G Technology to Necessitate Roaming Overhaul
In addition, the research found that this anticipated rise in data will
necessitate the establishment of novel agreements that explicitly cover 5G
roaming data, and provide roaming subscribers with comparable user experiences
whilst roaming.
Research author Scarlett Woodford noted “As demand for international travel
returns, operators must adjust to the significant uptake of 5G subscriptions
during the pandemic. A failure to provide 5G roaming capabilities in key travel
destinations will diminish brand reputation amongst subscribers and lead to
churn to competitors”
Juniper Research provides research
and analytical services to the global hi-tech communications sector; providing
consultancy, analyst reports and industry commentary.
Source: Juniper Research media
announcement
