S&P Global Market Intelligence noted it expected 5G launches in the coming months to come from developing markets in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe and Latin America
A total of 238 mobile operators serving 94 markets worldwide have launched 5G services as of the end of last year, according to Kagan’s 5G Tracker list.
Kagan is a media research group within the telecommunications, media and technology offering of S&P Global Market Intelligence.
“Developing markets, especially in Africa, took the spotlight for recent commercial 5G launches as operators in many developed regions had already launched 5G in previous years,” the report stated.
According to Kagan’s 5G Tracker, a total of 24 new operators were added to this list in the second half of 2022. Africa had nine new launches in this period. These included Orange in Botswana, Safaricom in Kenya, SFR in Réunion, MTN Group in Nigeria and Zambia, Telkom SA in South Africa, Vodacom Group in Tanzania and Unitel in Angola.
“Unlike other regions, Africa has been lagging in 5G deployment due to poor existing infrastructure, late 4G adoption, ambiguous regulatory oversight and a variety of economic factors that have precluded companies from investing in the new technology. The African markets that have already launched commercial 5G services have done so with strong government support, especially in the release of spectrum and fostering a clear, forward-looking regulatory environment,” the report added.
S&P Global Market Intelligence noted it expected 5G launches in the coming months to come from developing markets in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe and Latin America.
At least 48 operators in 30 markets worldwide had launched commercial 5G Standalone (SA) networks as of the end of 2022, according to the report. Major operators in the U.S. and in mainland China have already launched 5G SA networks, while other markets where major operators have deployed 5G SA include Brazil, Canada, Italy, Japan and Singapore, according to Kagan’s 5G Tracker list.
“The ultimate drivers for the choice of 5G NonStandalone (NSA) over SA are cost and ease of deployment. NSA is cheaper and easier to deploy since it can utilize an existing 4G core network to connect to the 5G radio access network. In contrast, SA 5G uses a dedicated 5G core network, which requires heftier investments in new infrastructure and equipment.”
“Deploying 5G NSA is a strategy for some operators to gauge initial demand for 5G before spending money on building an SA network. This is, however, a particular concern for many operators in developing markets where 4G adoption is still low. Deploying 5G NSA allows for backward compatibility, which means users with existing 4G devices will be able to connect to the network,” the report added.
The lack of availability of spectrum specifically dedicated for 5G also contributed to the decisions made by those that deployed NSA 5G.
S&P Global Market Intelligence also noted that the lack of availability of spectrum specifically dedicated for 5G also contributed to the decisions made by those carriers that deployed 5G via NSA architecture: “We especially saw this in 2020 when the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic canceled most spectrum auctions and awards worldwide, which forced some operators to launch 5G using 4G spectrum through Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS).”
