The private network market continues to blossom driven by growing support around 5G technology, however edge compute components remain limited to those deployments, according to a recent report from Analysys Mason.

The report found that edge computing components remain rare in current private network deployments despite their inherit synergies. It found that only 58 of the 363 private network announcements during the third quarter of this year explicitly mention edge computing as part of the deployment.

“When combined, the technologies can support applications that have requirements for low latency and high bandwidth or that need to be located on site for security purposes,” the report states.

The research firm cited relative immaturity of the edge computing ecosystem compared with private networks and limited use cases specifically in need of edge computing resources.

“Nevertheless, the share of private network announcements that mention edge is growing, and more than 20% of the private networks that have been publicly announced in 2022 so far include edge,” Analysys Mason noted. “We expect that more private networks will include edge computing in the next 18 to 24 months.”

This sentiment was echoed by Verizon Business CEO Sowmyanarayan Sampath who during a recent NSR & BCG Innovation Conference explained that private 5G network momentum was outpacing demand for the carrier’s mobile edge computing (MEC) services.

“On the MEC, what we are finding is demand is taking a little longer to go,” Sampath said. “And part of that is we are having to work back and integrate deeper into their operating system. So it's going to be much stickier when it does happen [but] it's going to take a little longer. We’ve got loads of proof of concepts and early commercial deployments, but we shouldn't see revenue till the back half of next year and into 2024.”

The Analysys Mason report also found that the number of announced private networks increased from 256 during the third quarter of last year, to 363 announced deployments during Q3 of this year. Most of that growth is coming from more advanced countries and China “where the IoT markets are mature and are driving demand for private networks.”

Private networks using 4G LTE technology continue to dominate the overall market “because it is able to meet the connectivity requirements of most private network applications.” However, 5G is gaining ground with more than 70% of new networks announced this year stating the use of 5G technology.

Analysys Mason noted that 5G is more likely to be used “where new applications are being developed, particularly those with requirements for high bandwidth and low latency (such as autonomous mobile robots). It can often take time to test and optimize private 5G networks to ensure maximum performance, particularly for newer applications.”

The firm also cited the increased cost of 5G-enabled devices compared to legacy 4G LTE devices.

The Analysys Mason report noted that Nokia, Ericsson, and Huawei were the dominant private network platform providers and acting as the most common deployment contractors. However, operators were increasingly being tasked with deployment, especially when they involved 5G technology or licensed spectrum.