Just over five years into the commercial launch of 5G, many mobile network operators (MNOs) around the world are offering 5G standalone (SA) and fixed wireless access (FWA) networks for enterprises, and growth in these advances on the base 5G infrastructure will be a key driver for technology spend, according to an industry report from Dell’Oro Group.
The Mobile core network and multi-access edge computing quarterly report estimates 70 MNOs have deployed 5G SA networks in 39 countries and territories. In 2025 alone, five new 5G SA networks were launched, including Orange in France, Romania and Slovakia; Vodafone in Spain; and O2 in Czechia. Regionally, there are five networks in North America, 26 in Europe, seven in the Middle East and Africa, 13 in Northeast Asia, 13 in Southeast Asia, and six in Latin America.
It calculates that the global 5G mobile core network (MCN) market is projected to grow at a 6% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in the period of 2024–2029, with market acceleration largely driven by the increasing adoption of 5G Standalone (SA) architecture.
In parallel, the report notes that the multi-access edge computing (MEC) market is expected to expand at a much faster CAGR (17%), fuelled by the roll-out of dynamic network slicing, reduced capability (RedCap) devices, and the rise of network APIs aligned with GSMA’s Open Gateway initiative. It adds that 17 APIs have already been defined, with support from 72 MNOs worldwide. Suppliers are actively building and marketing Open Gateway-compliant services, further accelerating MEC adoption and ecosystem expansion.
The report also found that as 3G networks shut down, Circuit Switched Core networks must be upgraded to IMS Core to maintain voice calling on 4G networks, and that would mean the IMS Core/Voice Core cumulative revenue (2025–2029) would increase by 9%.
Commenting on the report, Dave Bolan, research director at Dell’Oro Group, said: “Our forecasts are primarily driven by subscriber growth rates and the usual subscriber behaviour, and for the 5G MCN segment, our current projection is at a 6% CAGR.
However, the emergence of generative AI and agentic AI, especially with increased data traffic and expectations for continuous, low-latency connectivity, may eventually require expanded network capacity, which could push the growth rate even higher. Agentic AI is also the key to reaching L4 autonomous networking, which could dramatically reduce operational costs for MNOs.”
Another similar and recent report by Dell’Oro projects that worldwide radio access network (RAN) revenues, excluding services, will stay flat and reach $160bn in cumulative revenue over the 2025–2029 forecast period, as rapidly declining LTE revenues offset continued 5G investments. New technologies and architectures such as Open RAN, Cloud RAN and AI RAN are seen as playing an important role going forward, but the analysis concludes they are not expected to expand the RAN market.
Dell’Oro regards the flat baseline scenario as implying upside risks if non-traditional RAN growth vehicles – including FWA, private wireless, public safety and mission-critical, and MBB expansion to support changing end user requirements – accelerate the market more than expected.
As the investment focus gradually shifts from coverage to capacity, one of the most significant downward risks is slowing mobile data traffic growth. Should mobile data traffic growth decelerate more than anticipated, and operators transition into a maintenance mode following the completion of 5G coverage, capex-to-revenue could decline more sharply than currently projected.
“After two consecutive years of steep declines that wiped out nearly $9bn of RAN equipment revenues globally, it is encouraging that market conditions are now stabilising,” added Stefan Pongratz, vice-president for RAN market research at Dell’Oro Group.
“At the same time, we should not get too excited and assume a swift recovery. Market conditions can fluctuate over the short term, partly due to the asynchronous nature of new technology deployments. However, these ebbs and flows don’t alter the fundamentals that shape the long-term trajectory.”
The analyst also sees 5G Advanced technology as playing an essential role in the broader 5G journey, but does not expect this evolution will fuel another major capex cycle. Instead, it says operators will gradually transition their spending from 5G towards 5G-Advanced within their confined capex budgets.