Gartner predicts that global spending on 5G network infrastructure will double by 2020

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Recently, according to Gartner's latest forecast, the global 5G network infrastructure market revenue will nearly double to US$8.1 billion (about RMB 56.5 billion) in 2020. In addition, the total revenue of the wireless infrastructure market will decline by 4.4% in 2020 to US$38.1 billion (about RMB 265.7 billion). In 2019, the investment of communications service providers (CSPs) in 5G network infrastructure accounted for 10.4% of the total revenue of the wireless infrastructure market. This investment ratio will reach 21.3% in 2020.

Kosei Takiishi, senior research director at Gartner, said: "As more communications service providers prioritize 5G projects by repurposing current assets, including radio spectrum bandwidth, base stations, core networks and transport networks, and transitioning LTE/4G spending to maintenance mode, investment in wireless infrastructure continues to grow. Early 5G adopters are driving greater competition among communications service providers. In addition, governments and regulators are promoting the development of mobile networks and betting that mobile networks will become a catalyst and multiplier for broad economic growth in many industries."

According to reports, the increasingly fierce competition among communication service providers has accelerated the adoption of 5G. The new O-RAN (open radio access network) and vRAN (virtualized RAN) ecosystems may subvert the existing supplier binding model and promote the adoption of 5G by providing highly cost-effective and flexible 5G products in the future.

Gartner also predicts that investment in 5G will rebound modestly in 2021 as the population's high reliance on communication networks will trigger behavioral changes, and communication service providers will take advantage of this change. Investment in 5G will exceed LTE/4G in 2022. "By 2023, 15% of communication service providers around the world will operate independent 5G networks that do not rely on 4G network infrastructure. This will rapidly shift investment in the wireless market away from LTE/4G, while spending in the traditional RAN infrastructure field will also decline rapidly."