LONDON, UK – 13th September 2023: A new report from Kaleido Intelligence, a leading connectivity market intelligence and consulting firm, has found that after a slow start private 5G will accelerate rapidly in the coming years, growing to almost 19,000 active networks in 2028, growing at a CAGR of 115% from 2023.

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5G Brings New Capabilities & New Spectrum

The new research, Private LTE & 5G Networks: 2023-2028, notes that enterprises are increasingly concerned about the ability of private networks to meet their specific needs, rather than raw network capacity. Historically, LTE has been able to provide many of these capabilities. However, the flexibility that 5G provides, particularly guaranteed quality-of-service through 5G network slicing, appeals to many enterprises. As a result, we expect most private networks to be 5G by 2027, with 69% of manufacturing private network sites utilising 5G in that year.

This is aided by the fact that many countries that are currently looking to assign dedicated private network spectrum are looking to do so in the 5G band, with only the US and some northern European countries setting aside dedicated LTE spectrum for private networks.

Device Shortages

Despite the greater flexibility of 5G, there will be some need for LTE networks, as the 5G device ecosystem is currently small, making it difficult to use 5G networks to their full potential, with many being used as FWA (fixed wireless access) or some other use case focused on routers and similar, rather than true endpoint devices.

“The device shortage is making some enterprises reluctant to deploy purely 5G networks, as they cannot fulfil the goals their users have for them” remarked research author James Moar. “LTE networks will continue to be relevant, but we expect higher 5G network growth in future, as more devices become available.”

Roaming Remains Complex

Many private networks currently deployed are for campuses, with few that require the ability to roam onto a public network. Kaleido believes this is holding back the sector in areas where mobility and connectivity continuity is required, and some jurisdictions (for example Germany) have specific restrictions on private network roaming. MNOs will remain a key part of roaming private network use cases, and the transport and logistics sector, most dependent on mobility, will remain under $1 billion in value to private networks even by 2028.

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About Kaleido Intelligence

Kaleido Intelligence is a specialist consulting and market research firm with a proven track record of delivering telecom research at the highest level. Kaleido Intelligence is the only research company addressing mobile roaming in its entirety, covering:

• Data Forecasts by Market
• Historical & Forecast Viewpoints
• Competitive Intelligence
• Strategic Insight
• Trend Analysis

Research is led by expert analysts, each with significant experience delivering telco research and insights that matter.