- Dell'Oro said that 61 5G SA networks have been deployed since 2020
- The group said that about a dozen more MNOs will deploy 5G SA networks in 2025
- This will include AT&T and Verizon - who said they debuted the tech years ago
Non-standalone 5G - which relies on a 4G core - was meant to be a stepping stone to bigger and better things. That is, a stepping stone to standalone 5G with a new and improved core with all the bells and whistles to enable fancy new tricks like network slicing. And yet, five years into 5G deployments, many operators still haven't move beyond non-standalone deployments. Could 2025 be the year the tide finally turns?
New data from Dell'Oro Group shows that a good amount of progress was actually made last year, with eight new deployments globally.
Dave Bolan, research director at the Dell’Oro Group, told Fierce in an email that a total of 61 mobile network operators (MNOs) have deployed 5G SA in 34 countries worldwide since 2020. “In addition to China, India, and the US, other large countries with extensive 5G SA population coverage include Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Japan, Spain, and the UK,” Bolan said. He added that Dell'Oro isn't including fixed wireless access networks or 5G private networks in its reports.
“We expect about a dozen more 5G SA networks to launch in 2025, including AT&T and Verizon,” Bolan said.
And the steady march of progress appears set to continue. Ericsson's November 2024 Mobility Report predicted that 5G SA mobile subscriptions worldwide will increase from an estimated 1.2 billion at the end of 2024 to 3.6 billion by the end of 2030. These will account for "nearly 60 percent of 5G subscriptions," the report added.
But what really counts as a deployment when it comes to 5G SA rollouts?
Funny you should ask. Dell’Oro has quietly stepped back from its previous reports that AT&T and Verizon launched 5G SA networks in 2022. Why? Well, while AT&T and Verizon both said that they have launched 5G SA networks, these deployments were not nearly nationwide rollouts. Indeed, a Verizon executive told Fierce in September 2024 that it had launched 5G SA in three U.S. states at the time.
“How much coverage it takes to say it is nationwide may be up for debate,” Bolan said. “But generally speaking, we add MNOs that have deployed 5G SA networks across a broad geographic portion of their network, addressing major population centers,” he added.
Why it matters
Initial 5G deployments have largely revolved around 5G radio access network (RAN) base stations that actually use a 4G core to set up data sessions and handle subscriber information, as well as other tasks. According to Ericsson's Mobility Report, a total of 320 service providers have launched commercial 5G service, but "less than 20 percent of these are 5G SA launches and deployments."
This hobbled 5G approach for consumers has meant less consistently fast 5G downloads and no voice-over-5G. For enterprises, it means they have to set 5G private networks in order to get promised 5G features like low latency to reliably run automated guided vehicles around a factory, and it has totally stymied the deployment of large-scale Internet of Things (IoT) projects in much of the world.
This isn’t the case in China where the government has pushed 5G SA deployment from March 2020. Or for T-Mobile US, which was the first operator globally to rollout a nationwide 5G SA network on its 600 MHz band in America and has seen its 5G fortunes rise ever since. Other global operators like Reliance Jio have also pioneered a nationwide 5G SA network in India.
“Most MNOs start with their major urban centers and then extend coverage to surrounding communities and eventually to rural communities,” Bolan noted. “Coverage is usually focused on outdoor and, later on, indoor coverage while also addressing venues like transportation hubs and sports/entertainment venues. No 5G SA network has matched the coverage of their 4G networks, but obviously, the ones that started first are farther along.”
Bolan said that T-Mobile has added 5G SA for its 2600 MHz (2.5 GHz) band, “which now has very extensive coverage,” he noted. So, T-Mobile is still ahead of its U.S. MNO rivals in the standalone stakes.
So it seems AT&T and Verizon have their work cut out for them.