Another private 5G forecast for you (or your marketing departments): cumulative spending on private 4G/5G networks in the US will exceed $3.7 billion between 2024 and 2027, reckons market research firm SNS Telecom & IT. New spectrum and new technology means the market is going “mainstream” with “deployments of all shapes and sizes”, it says.
Annual spending on private 4G/5G networks will grow at a compound annual rate (CAGR) of around 18 percent in the period. The drive is down to new spectrum options, including the shared 48/n48 ‘CBRS’ band (3.55-2.7 GHz), Globalstar’s 53/n53 band (2.4 GHz), the Educational Broadband Service (EBS) in band 41/n41 (2.5 GHz), and band 8/n106 (900 MHz) spectrum for critical industries such as utilities, as licensed by Anterix and others.
SNS Telecom & IT notes dedicated spectrum held by the US Department of Defense and public safety agencies, alongside nationally licensed bands held by mobile operators and leased in local tranches for private 4G/5G projects. Otherwise, the technology’s popularity in the US stems from the availability of 5G in these bands, plus the trend for neutral host network solutions as a replacement for distributed antenna system (DAS) infrastructure.
The latter provides both a means to deliver public 4G/5G coverage indoors, and a useful way for enterprises to piggyback their own specialist 4G/5G systems for dedicated private workloads. It writes: “Facilitated by the open accessibility of CBRS spectrum, private networks supporting neutral host operations are increasingly being deployed in industrial facilities, carpeted enterprise spaces, public venues, hospitals, hotels, higher education campuses, and schools.”
SNS Telecom & IT, with another market update, lists prominent US customers for private 4G/5G networks as: a Tesla (‘Gigafactory’) plant in Texas, a BMW plant in Spartanburg, a GM (Factory ZERO) assembly centre, a Toyota Material Handling complex in Columbus, a Cummins plant in Jamestown, an LG Electronics plant in Clarksville, a Delta Air Lines hub in Atlanta, plus Dallas Fort Worth airport, the Port of Virginia, Boston Children’s Hospital, and Cleveland Clinic’s Mentor Hospital.
As well, Walmart has connected a bunch of distribution centres, John Deere has connected a number of facilities, and the Department of Defense has several military installations. It lists the following as primary movers in the neutral-host market: Tesla, Toyota, Cummins’, Meta, City of Hope Hospital, Stanford Health Care, Sound Hotel, Gale South Beach Hotel, Gale Hotel & Residences, Nobu Hotel, Arizona State University, California Polytechnic State University, University of Virginia, Duke University, and Parkside Elementary School.
