Latest stats from the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) says at least 1,148 organisations in 74 countries had deployed private LTE (4G) and 5G networks by the end of March (Q1 2023), up from 1,077 at the end of 2022. Which means (!?) 71 new enterprises have elected to install a cellular system for the digital-change purposes in three months – at a rate of a little over 23 new enterprises per month, on average.
But it is worth noting the GSA figures are for enterprises (with at least one sizable commercial installation), and not networks, and not small-scale proofs-of-concept either. They are also based on contributions from relatively few suppliers.
Therefore, the GSA does not, as yet, have the whole picture; but its measures is arguably the most important one in the private networks space at the same time, giving a clear sense of momentum in the market. GSA said the manufacturing, education, device testing and lab-as-a-service, plus oil and gas industries are leading the march, with the highest growth in the period. Their motivation is presented as “escalating data, security, digitisation and mobility requirements of modern enterprise and government entities”.
The 5G ratio is building, albeit slowly; most existing deployments are based on LTE (853 out of 1,148; versus 505 5G entries). Almost half (48 percent) of the 5G deployments are “long-term trials and deployments within educational and testbed/validation facilities”. Two-thirds of the new customer references, as provided to GSA by its ‘special interest group of suppliers’ (Airspan, Ericsson, Keysight, Mavenir, Nokia, OneLayer), in Q1 are not reported elsewhere, apparently. GSA called the summary the “most comprehensive PMN customer database globally”. The full report is available here; GSA is running a webinar to present the findings tomorrow (Thursday June 9).
A statement said: “Typically, there is a strong, positive correlation between the number of private mobile networks being deployed and the countries with dedicated spectrum. The US, Germany, China, the UK, and Japan are the top five countries deploying private mobile networks worldwide… Organisations of all types are combining connected systems with big data and analytics to transform operations, increase automation and efficiency or deliver new services to their users.”
Joe Barrett, president of GSA, commented: “There is a considerable and diverse group of market participants who are actively involved in creating and providing solutions for private mobile networks. With a wealth of opportunities available and diverse regulatory strategies in place to facilitate LTE and 5G private usage, significant and promising progress in the market is clearly on the horizon over the next few years.”
