5G Standalone Commercial Launches Accelerate Mobile Core Market, According to Dell'Oro Group

14 Commercial 5G SA Networks Now Deployed

According to a recently published report from Dell'Oro Group, the trusted source for market information about the telecommunications, networks, and data center IT industries, revenues for the Mobile Core Network (MCN) market poised for growth in 2022. The outlook has turned positive, starting in 4Q 2021, as 5G Standalone (SA) commercial launches begin to accelerate.

"The expected growth rate for 2022 is more optimistic than reported last quarter with the commercial deployments of more 5G SA enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) networks," stated Dave Bolan, Research Director at Dell'Oro Group. "We count 14 commercial 5G SA networks deployed by Communication Service Providers for eMBB services. Five of the 14 5G SA networks went commercial after the close of 3Q 2021 quarter. Europe had a surprising uptick in 3Q 2021 with 5G SA network commercial launches primarily in Germany," Bolan added.

Additional highlights from the 3Q 2021 Mobile Core Network Report:

• MCN market revenues declined into negative growth year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter.
• The slowdown is attributed to a slowing of the 5G SA network buildouts in China.
• 5G Packet Core revenues for the quarter were spread across only six vendors: Ericsson, Huawei, Mavenir, NEC, Nokia, and ZTE.