Highlights of Dell’Oro’s 5-year RAN forecast
Market conditions remain challenging for the broader RAN market. Following the 40% to 50% ramp between 2017 and 2021, the RAN market has been declining since then. These trends are expected to prevail throughout the forecast period. However, the pace of the decline should moderate somewhat after 2024.
“It is not a surprise that there is rain after sunshine,” said Stefan Pongratz, Vice President for RAN market research at Dell’Oro Group. “In addition to MBB-based coverage-related challenges, this disconnect between mobile data traffic growth and the capacity boost provided by the mid-band, taken together with continued monetization uncertainty, is clearly weighing on the market,” Pongratz added.
- Worldwide RAN revenues are projected to decline at a 2 percent CAGR over the next five years, as continued 5G investments will be offset by rapidly declining LTE revenues.
- The Asia Pacific region is expected to lead the decline, while easier comparisons following steep contractions in 2023 will improve the growth prospects in the North American region. Even with some recovery, North American RAN revenues are expected to remain significantly lower relative to the peak in 2022.
- 5G-Advanced positions remain unchanged. The technology will play an essential role in the broader 5G journey. However, 5G-Advanced is not expected to fuel another major capex cycle. Instead, operators will gradually transition their spending from 5G towards 5G-Advanced within their confined capex budgets.
- RAN segments that are expected to grow over the next five years include 5G NR, FWA, mmWave, Open RAN, vRAN, private wireless, and small cells.
Commentary:
Worldwide RAN revenues are projected to decline at a 2% CAGR between 2023 and 2028, as rapidly declining LTE revenues will offset continued 5G investments. This is predicated on the assumption that the MBB portion of the RAN market will continue to trend downward, and the upside from new growth opportunities is not enough to change the trajectory.
The mix between existing and new use cases has not changed. We still forecast private/enterprise RAN to grow at a 20%+ CAGR while public RAN investments decline. At the same time, because of the lower starting point, it will take some for private RAN to move the broader RAN needle.
As the investment focus gradually shifts from coverage to capacity, one of the most significant forecast risks is slowing mobile data traffic growth. Given current network utilization levels, there are serious concerns about the timing of capacity upgrades. The network utilization metric will play a much more significant role as we move further into the capacity phase.
Generally, the less advanced 5G regions are expected to perform better than the mature 5G markets. As a result, markets with lower 5G POP coverage, including Middle East & Africa, Caribbean and Latin America, and APAC Excluding China/India should perform better.
Easier comparisons following steep contractions in 2023 will improve the North American region’s growth prospects. Even with some recovery, North American RAN revenues are expected to remain significantly below peak levels in 2022.
5G-Advanced will play an essential role in the broader 5G journey. However, 3GPP Releases 18-20 are not expected to fuel another major capex cycle. Instead, operators will gradually transition their spending from 5G towards 5G-Advanced within their confined capex budgets. Also, ITU-R WP5D has not started any work related to a 5G-Advanced recommendation(s).
More importantly, some RAN segments will stand out even as the broader RAN market shrinks. RAN segments expected to grow over the next five years include 5G NR, Non-MM 5G NR, FWA, mmWave, Open RAN, vRAN, private wireless, and small cells.
References:
Analysts: Telco CAPEX crash looks to continue: mobile core network, RAN, and optical all expected to decline
Dell’Oro: 2023 global telecom equipment revenues declined 5% YoY; Huawei increases its #1 position
Dell’Oro & Omdia: Global RAN market declined in 2023 and again in 2024
Dell’Oro: RAN market declines at very fast pace while Mobile Core Network returns to growth in Q2-2023
Dell’Oro: RAN Market to Decline 1% CAGR; Mobile Core Network growth reduced to 1% CAGR
Global 5G Market Snapshot; Dell’Oro and GSA Updates on 5G SA networks and devices
ITU-R: IMT-2030 (6G) Backgrounder and Envisioned Capabilities
Juniper Research says annual operator investment into O-RAN (Open Radio Access Networks) will reach $11 billion in 2029; rising from $2 billion in 2024.’ That’s 5.5x growth over five years at a CAGR of over 40%. Contrast that with a recent forecast by Dell’Oro which forecasts total global RAN revenues will actually decline over next five years. All the signs are that Open RAN specialists are struggling, so this growth will have to come from the incumbent big vendors.
This culmination of nearly $40 billion of global investment into AI network automation by 2029 will be driven by the need to cater for increasing cellular connections and data. “Operators must leverage AI-based traffic steering to improve connectivity services, such as enhanced mobile broadband, with network traffic generated by these connections being given priority steering to the base station offering the lowest latency to maximize the value proposition for users,” explained research author Alex Webb.
https://www.juniperresearch.com/press/pressreleasesopen-ran-investment-by-operators-to-surge-in-next-five-years/
The latest gloomy news from the world of telecom was this week supplied by Samsung, maker of 5G network equipment, which reported a 21% year-over-year drop in second-quarter sales at its networks business, to 740 billion South Korean won (US$541 million). That decline followed continued sales disappointments for Ericsson and Nokia.
https://www.lightreading.com/semiconductors/intel-s-18-000-job-cuts-may-leave-ailing-telco-unit-high-and-dry