Dell’Oro: RAN market stable, Mobile Core Network market +14% Y/Y with 72 5G SA core networks deployed
A recently published report from Dell’Oro Group notes that after two years of steep declines, initial estimates show that total Radio Access Network (RAN) revenue—including baseband, radio hardware, and software, excluding services—was flat outside of China and up when excluding North America.
“The nearly stable results for the 1Q25-3Q25 period bolster the flat growth thesis we have communicated for some time, reflecting the current state of the 5G network,” said Stefan Pongratz, Vice President of RAN market research at the Dell’Oro Group. “While near-term RAN expectations remain muted, some of the leading RAN suppliers are still cautiously optimistic that more investments are needed over the long-term to ensure the networks evolve from a connectivity pipe into an intelligence grid,” Pongratz added.
Additional highlights from the 3Q 2025 RAN report:
- In the quarter, growth in EMEA was nearly enough to offset declining revenue in North America and the Asia Pacific regions.
- The top 5 RAN suppliers, based on worldwide revenues for the 1Q25-3Q25 period, are Huawei, Ericsson, Nokia, ZTE, and Samsung.
- Market is becoming more concentrated—the top five suppliers accounted for 96 percent of the 1Q25-3Q25 RAN market, up from 95 percent in 2024.
- Huawei and Ericsson’s worldwide RAN revenue share improved for the 1Q25-3Q25 period relative to 2024.
- Huawei and Nokia’s RAN revenue share outside of North America improved for the 1Q25-3Q25 period relative to 2024.
- The short-term outlook remains unchanged, with total RAN expected to remain mostly stable in 2026.
Dell’Oro Group’s RAN Quarterly Report offers a complete overview of the RAN industry, with tables covering manufacturers’ and market revenue for multiple RAN segments including 5G NR Sub-7 GHz, 5G NR mmWave, LTE, macro base stations and radios, small cells, Massive MIMO, Open RAN, and vRAN. The report also tracks the RAN market by region and includes a four-quarter outlook. To purchase this report, please contact us by email at [email protected].
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Another recent Dell’Oro Group report reveals that the Mobile Core Network (MCN) market revenue surged 14% year-over-year (Y/Y) outside China in 3Q 2025. Twelve Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) have now selected to move forward with 5G-Advanced.
“The Chinese market experienced abnormally high growth in 3Q 2024. As a result, the China market revenue declined 39 percent Y/Y for 3Q 2025,” stated Dave Bolan, Research Director at Dell’Oro Group. “The revenue for all the other regions increased, between 9 percent and 17 percent Y/Y, resulting in a worldwide revenue decline of 2 percent Y/Y. As noted, revenue worldwide excluding China rose 14 percent Y/Y, continuing the trend in subscribers migrating to 5G Standalone (5G SA), and revenue worldwide excluding North America declined 5 percent Y/Y.
“MNOs are moving forward with 5G SA (72 in our last count) and moving forward to take advantage of monetization opportunities. Network Slicing announcements continued. Of note is Reliance Jio (India), which announced 10 network slices with guaranteed service level agreements (SLAs) at scale. In October, T-Mobile launched Edge Control, providing enterprises with what Dell’Oro Group refers to as an MNO-provided Mobile Private Network (MPN). This is in response to the challenges of implementing 5G SA Private Wireless networks in the shared CBRS spectrum in the US.
“We have identified 12 MNOs that have commercially launched 5G-Advanced networks (not all this quarter), to take 5G to the next level with new features and performance. MNOs include: China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom, CTM (Macau), Du (UAE), e& (UAE), HKT (Hong Kong), Singtel (Singapore), Telstra (Australia), T-Mobile (USA), YTL (Malaysia), and Zain (Kuwait),” added Bolan.
Additional highlights from the 3Q 2025 Mobile Core Network and Multi-Access Edge Computing Report include:
- Region rankings were: EMEA; Asia Pacific, excluding China; China and North America tied; CALA.
- Vendor rankings (with more than 5 percent share) were: Huawei, Ericsson, Nokia, and ZTE.
The Dell’Oro Group Mobile Core Network & Multi-Access Edge Computing Quarterly Report offers complete, in-depth coverage of the market with tables covering manufacturers’ revenue, shipments, and average selling prices for Traditional Packet Core, Evolved Packet Core, 5G Packet Core, Policy, Subscriber Data Management, Signaling, Circuit Switched Core, and IMS Core by geographic regions. To purchase this report, please contact us at [email protected].
About Dell’Oro Group:
Dell’Oro Group is a market research firm that specializes in strategic competitive analysis in the telecommunications, security, enterprise networks, and data center infrastructure markets. Our firm provides in-depth quantitative data and qualitative analysis to facilitate critical, fact-based business decisions. For more information, contact Dell’Oro Group at +1.650.622.9400 or visit https://www.delloro.com.
References:
MCN Market Up 14 Percent Outside China in 3Q 2025, According to Dell’Oro Group
Market research firms Omdia and Dell’Oro: impact of 6G and AI investments on telcos
Omdia on resurgence of Huawei: #1 RAN vendor in 3 out of 5 regions; RAN market has bottomed
Omdia: Huawei increases global RAN market share due to China hegemony
Dell’Oro Group: RAN Market Grows Outside of China in 2Q 2025
Dell’Oro: RAN revenue growth in 1Q2025; AI RAN is a conundrum
Dell’Oro: Global RAN Market to Drop 21% between 2021 and 2029
Dell’Oro: RAN market still declining with Huawei, Ericsson, Nokia, ZTE and Samsung top vendors
Highlights of Dell’Oro’s 5-year RAN forecast
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: Mobile Core Network market has lowest growth rate since 4Q 2017
Dell’Oro: Mobile Core Network market driven by 5G SA networks in China
Dell’Oro: Mobile Core Network Market 5 Year Forecast
Dell’Oro: AI RAN to account for 1/3 of RAN market by 2029; AI RAN Alliance membership increases but few telcos have joined
