115 mobile operators investing in 5G standalone networks globally115 mobile operators investing in 5G standalone networks globally

SHEFFIELD, U.K. – 115 operators in 52 countries and territories have invested in public 5G standalone networks, according to the latest GSA data. This equates to 21.4% of the 535 operators known to be investing in 5G licences, trials or deployments of any type. Of these, GSA data confirms that at least 36 operators in 25 countries and territories are now understood to have launched or deployed public 5G Standalone (SA) networks, two of which have only soft-launched their 5G SA networks. Reflecting the growth in 5G SA network deployments, the new 5G Standalone report also confirms that the number of announced 5G SA devices has now risen to 1,750 in July 2023, up from 686 at the end of 2021. As the 5G SA ecosystem grows, it is now supported by 86 announced modems and chipsets, with new features set to widen adoption in the future.

In addition to the investment in 5G SA for public mobile networks, GSA is also tracking organizations testing, piloting or deploying 5G SA technologies for private networks. As of the last private mobile networks update in May 2023, GSA had collated information about 1,148 organisations known to be deploying or granted a licence for LTE or 5G private networks. Of those, 505 are known to be using 5G networks for private mobile networks, with 66 (just over 13% of them) known to be working with 5G SA already. They include manufacturers, academic organisations, commercial research institutes, construction, communications and IT services, rail and aviation organisations. The private mobile networks database is available to GSA Members and Associates.

The new GSA report, 5G Standalone, tracks the emergence of the 5G SA system, including the availability of chipsets and devices for customers, plus the testing and deployment of 5G SA networks by public mobile network operators and private network operators. A free executive summary of the report is available here: https://gsacom.com/paper/5g-standalone-july-2023-summary/

A full report, including a full global list of operators investing in public 5G SA networks, is available to all GSA Members and Associates subscribing to the GSA's GAMBoD database.

GSA is tracking the emergence of the 5G SA system, including the availability of chipsets and devices for customers, plus the testing and deployment of 5G SA networks by public mobile network operators as well as private network operators. This report is the latest in an ongoing series summarising market trends, drawing on data collected in GSA's various databases covering chipsets, devices, spectrum and networks.

Read the full press release here.

GSA