According to GSA, the private mobile network market (PMNM) continued to grow in 3Q2024, as the number of unique customer references for deployments reached 1,603. The market is being driven by sectors like manufacturing, education, and mining, which use these networks for enhanced data, security and mobility needs.

On average, 71% of references included in the GSA database are non-public and unique to this database, submitted by members of the GSA Private Mobile Networks Special Interest Group (SIG). This number can be higher for certain industries, with more than 80% of sectors such as military and defense, maritime and power plants not visible in the public domain. The referenced SIG includes 16 companies: 450Alliance, 5G-ACIA, AI-Link, Airspan, Celona, Dell, Ericsson, GSMA, JMA Wireless, Keysight Technologies, Mavenir, Nokia, OnGo Alliance, OneLayer, PrivateLTEand5G.com and TCCA. GSA would like to thank its members 450Alliance, Airspan, Celona, Ericsson, Keysight Technologies, Mavenir, Nokia and OneLayer for sharing general information about their network deployments to enable this report and data set to be produced. New data has resulted in a significant uplift in this update.

Other PMNM highlights in the 3rd quarter 2024 include:

• There are 80 countries around the world with at least one private mobile network.

• Of the top 10 reporting countries, the United States reported growth of 24%, followed by the United Kingdom, up 11%, Sweden by 9% and Japan and Australia by 5% each. Finland and the Republic of Korea grew by 4% each

• Seaports and oil and gas were the fastest-growing industries, up 9%. Manufacturing, education and academic research and mining remain the top three sectors for customer references, although this does not represent the actual size and scale of deployments, which vary by user type.

• There are 80 countries around the world with at least one private mobile network.

• There is typically a strong, positive correlation between the number of private mobile network references and countries with dedicated spectrum. Private mobile networks are mainly in high- and upper-middle-income regions so far, with the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, China and Japan having the most references. It is sometimes reported that China has a high number of networks, reaching up to 30,000, but GSA believes a large portion use the public network and therefore do not meet our definition.

Image Credit: GSA

Notes:

The definition of a private mobile network used in this report is a 3GPP-based 4G LTE or 5G network intended for the sole use of private entities, such as enterprises, industries and governments. They can use only physical elements, RAN or Core, or a combination of physical and virtual elements — for example hosted by a public land mobile network — but as a minimum, a dedicated network core must be implemented. The definition includes MulteFire or Future Railway Mobile Communication System. The network must use spectrum defined in 3GPP, be generally intended for business-critical or mission-critical operational needs, and where it is possible to identify commercial value, the database includes contracts worth more than €50,0000 and between €50,000 and €100,000 to filter out small demonstration network deployments. Private mobile networks are usually not offered to the general public, although GSA’s analysis does include the following: educational institutions that provide mobile broadband to student homes; private fixed wireless access networks deployed by communities for homes and businesses; city or town networks that use local licenses to provide wireless services in libraries or public places (possibly offering Wi-Fi with 3GPP wireless backhaul), which are not an extension of the public network.

Non-3GPP networks such as those using Wi-Fi, TETRA, P25, WiMAX, Sigfox, LoRa and proprietary technologies are excluded from the data set. Network implementations using solely network slices from public networks or placement of virtual networking functions on a router are also excluded. Where identifiable, extensions of the public network (such as one or two extra sites deployed at a location, as opposed to dedicated private networks) are excluded. These items may be described in the press as a type of private network.

References:

PMN December 2024 Summary

SNS Telecom & IT: Private 5G and 4G LTE cellular networks for the global defense sector is a $1.5B opportunity

SNS Telecom & IT: $6 Billion Private LTE/5G Market Shines Through Wireless Industry’s Gloom

SNS Telecom & IT: Private 5G Network market annual spending will be $3.5 Billion by 2027

Dell’Oro: Private RAN revenue declines slightly, but still doing relatively better than public RAN and WLAN markets

Pente Networks, MosoLabs and Alliance Corp collaborate for Private Cellular Network in a Box

HPE Aruba Launches “Cloud Native” Private 5G Network with 4G/5G Small Cell Radios