Spirent Communications, a provider of test and assurance solutions for devices and networks, released its third annual 5G outlook report, based on analysis and takeaways from over 800 5G engagements in 2021.
The “5G 2022: Market Drivers, Insights & Considerations” report provides insights from across the 5G ecosystem on the current status of 5G, revealing geographic trends, technology advancements and revenue-generating use cases.
Spirent has embarked on 1,800 5G engagements to date. In 2021, Spirent’s service provider engagements increased by more than 50 percent.
Service providers established partnerships with public cloud providers. Almost half of service provider activity focused on service assurance and service experience, including competitive benchmarking, Spirent’s Head of Market Strategy, Steve Douglas, said.
Key findings from the report include:
Spirent’s 5G business in the Americas grew by more than 40 percent in 2021, with a focus on service assurance, standalone (SA) core, cloud testing and service experience.
The EMEA market saw more than 60 percent growth in engagements, after pandemic-induced delays in 2020. Attention centered on the 5G core and automation.
With China taking the lead in the APAC region, network coverage, densification and subscriber growth continued to drive demand for multi-speed transport network and device testing.
Mobile network oerators are evaluating key areas where they can mine meaningful revenues. These include Fixed Wireless Access (FWA), mobile multi-player gaming, augmented and virtual reality, security surveillance, content delivery networks, 5G speed boosters and 5G multi-view experiences.
Spirent is engaged with more than 40 unique operators worldwide, including multi-country providers. There have been at least 19 small commercial SA launches to date, with more than 90 trials and vendor selection processes underway. And where there’s core, there’s cloud. Core and cloud combined now represent more than one-third of Spirent’s 5G work.
Spirent estimates that the number of private LTE or 5G networks will explode from around 3,000 today to more than 14,000 in just a few years. The growth will be driven by trends including enterprise digitalization strategies advanced by 5G and Wi-Fi 6 convergence, capitalizing on breakthrough technologies across IoT, big data analytics and intelligent automation.
