Global 5G market set for 3.2 billion connections by 2026

The transformation to the 5G ecosystem is expected to witness 3-4 times faster growth rate than other connectivity transformations. The global 5G Services Market size will grow from $53 billion in 2020 to $249.2 billion by 2026, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 29.4% during the forecast period. This is primarily due to the rapid innovation in virtualization in the networking domain, coupled with the growing numbers of applications, which require a latent-free connection. The above factors have resulted in expected rapid adoption of 5G services, followed by a quick roll out of 5G services by other developing economies. Countries expected to launch 5G services at the earliest include the US, China, South Korea, Japan, the UK, and Germany.

Countries with a strong 4G infrastructure are expected to be the early deployers with agile connectivity platforms in IoT are also expected to quickly transform their services into 5G, probably by 2020 Q1. A study suggests that as network orchestration tools maximise monetisation, next-generation infrastructures will grow at a staggering rate of 940% over the next five years.

The 5G networks leverage next-generation technologies, such as network orchestration tools, to enable operators to monetise data-intensive use cases, like remote healthcare and mobile gaming.

The study, 5G monetisation: Business models, strategic recommendations and market forecasts 2021-2026, found that over 60% of global 5G connections will be located in the Asia Pacific region by 2026. Network orchestration technologies, alongside mmWave frequencies that enable data-intensive 5G services, will be a key driver in creating an ecosystem in this region that allows mobile subscribers to leverage 5G networks for emerging mobile services, while maintaining network performance.

Operators in China, Japan and South Korea have all implemented lower subscription costs, which have accelerated 5G adoption, thus enabling these subscribers to explore novel services that require 5G connectivity. These tools allow operators to adapt network conditions based on artificial intelligence analysis of traffic, providing more bandwidth to connections that need it and maintain service performance.