Mobile private network deployment growth brings wins for telcos

The Global Mobile Suppliers Association’s (GSA's) latest figures for 5G or LTE mobile private network (MPN) deployments and pilots show that communication service providers (CSPs) are winning MPN business amid stiff competition. The GSA has identified 370 companies known to be deploying LTE or 5G MPNs, or which have been granted a licence suitable for an MPN, up from 311 companies in January this year. A range of companies are involved in building and managing 5G and LTE MPNs, including equipment vendors, systems integrators and the enterprises using private networks -- as well as a total of 68 public network operators, according to the industry association. Recent wins by communication service providers to supply 5G mobile private networks include Vodafone’s contract to build a 5G-ready MPN for Centrica Storage limited (CSL), which will help CSL digitalize its critical maintenance and engineering operations at its gas plant in Easington in the UK.

[ PRIVATE NETWORK DEPLOYMENTS BY STATUS: PILOT PROJECT OR PRODUCTION DEPLOYMENT (BASE 370 NETWORKS) (SOURCE GSA) ]

Manufacturing, however, is the sector with the largest numbers of enterprises actively involved in 5G or LTE MPNs. The report 79 identified manufacturers holding suitable licences or piloting or deploying LANs -- or probable LANs (the report also acknowledges the difficulty of measuring a market in which deals are often not made public). This represents more than a 50% increase from the start of 2021, when 51 manufacturers were operating or piloting MPNs or had secured spectrum to do so. Within manufacturing, automotive companies are leading the fray and represent just over a quarter of the 79 manufacturers identified in the report.

The GSA expects LTE and 5G MPN market to develop rapidly, particularly as regulators release more spectrum for private use. Just how fast it will grow, however, is open to debate and forecasts vary greatly in what remains an opaque market. The research group Delloro, for example, expects revenues from 5G MPNs alone to grow to $1 Billion by 2025, whereas ABI sees much faster growth. It estimates 5G private networks revenue will grow from US$1.6 billion in 2021 to US$65 billion in 2030, which it says represents compound annual growth rate of 60.1%. One thing is certain, network equipment manufacturers, CSPs, cloud hyperscalers and systems integrators will all be competing to secure a slice of the growing pie.