According to Gartner, Inc.’s newest projection, global 5G network infrastructure revenue would rise 39 percent to $19.1 billion in 2021, up from $13.7 billion in 2020.
Communication Service Providers CSPs in developed markets accelerated 5G development in 2020 and 2021, with the technology accounting for 39% of overall wireless infrastructure revenue this year. “The COVID-19 pandemic spiked demand for optimized and ultrafast broadband connectivity to support work-from-home and bandwidth-hungry applications, such as streaming video, online gaming, and social media applications,” said Michael Porowski, senior principal research analyst at Gartner.
The wireless network infrastructure market’s 5G category is the fastest expanding (see Table 1). Only 5G offers a significant prospect for investment development among the categories that make up wireless infrastructure in this prediction. As CSPs transition to 5G small cells, investment in legacy wireless generations is fast declining across all geographies.
| Segment | 2020 Revenue | 2021 Revenue | 2022 Revenue |
| 5G | 13,768.0 | 19,128.9 | 23,254.6 |
| LTE and 4G | 17,127.8 | 14,569.1 | 12,114.0 |
| 3G and 2G | 3,159.6 | 1,948.2 | 1,095.2 |
| Small Cells Non-5G | 6,588.5 | 7,117.9 | 7,113.9 |
| Mobile Core | 5,714.6 | 6,056.2 | 6,273.3 |
| Total | 46,358.5 | 48,820.2 | 49,851.0 |
CSP revenue in North America is expected to expand from $2.9 billion in 2020 to $4.3 billion in 2021, owing to the growing adoption of dynamic spectrum sharing and millimeter-wave base stations, among other factors. CSPs in Western Europe will focus on spectrum licensing, upgrading mobile core infrastructure, and navigating regulatory processes, with 5G revenue estimated to rise from $794 million in 2020 to $1.6 billion in 2021. Greater China is predicted to continue its lead in worldwide 5G revenue in 2021, with $9.1 billion, up from $7.4 billion in 2020.
While just 10% of CSPs offered commercially viable 5G services in 2020, Gartner estimates that this number will rise to 60% by 2024, similar to the rate of adoption of LTE and 4G in the past.”
Business and customer demand is an influencing factor in this growth. As consumers return to the office, they will continue to upgrade or switch to gigabit fibre to the home (FTTH) service as connectivity has become an essential remote work service,” said Porowski. “Users will also increasingly scrutinize CSPs for both office and remote work needs.”
According to Gartner, 60 percent of Tier-1 CSPs will deploy XGS-PON technology to supply ultrafast internet services to residential and commercial users on a substantial scale by 2025, up from less than 30 percent in 2020. The global passive optical network (PON) market is growing as a preferred technology due to this rapid shift in customer behavior. Because the price gap between XGS-PON and other technologies is shrinking, CSPs are prepared to invest in XGS-PON to differentiate themselves in customer experience and network quality.
