According to Dell’Oro Group’s latest Mobile RAN 5-Year Forecast Report, investments in the Radio Access Network (RAN) market are encountering obstacles, including regional 5G imbalances, challenges with monetization, and slower rates of data traffic growth. The report indicates that while there are slight improvements in the short term, long-term market conditions are expected to remain flat, with a projected growth rate of 0 percent CAGR through 2029. Stefan Pongratz, Vice President at Dell’Oro Group, stated, “While private wireless and fixed-wireless access (FWA) show promise, they won’t offset LTE declines and modest 5G capacity growth.” Additional highlights from the forecast include:

• Worldwide RAN revenues are projected to remain unchanged as declining LTE revenues counterbalance ongoing 5G investments.
• Medium-term risks to the baseline forecast appear balanced, while long-term risks are leaning towards the downside, driven by uncertainty in data growth.
• Private and enterprise RAN investments are anticipated to grow at over 20 percent CAGR, but public RAN spending is expected to decline.
• Growth segments in the RAN market include 5G NR, fixed-wireless access (FWA), mmWave, Open RAN, virtualized RAN (vRAN), private wireless, and small cells.