Global 5G wireless network infrastructure revenues to double to $4.2b in 2020

Revenues from fifth-generation (5G) wireless network infrastructure are expected to increase by 89 per cent to $4.2 billion globally in 2020 when compared to $2.2 billion last year as more telecom operators are expected to go live. During the same period, the 4G wireless infrastructure revenue is expected to decrease from $20.45b in 2018 to $19.32b in 2019 and further to $18.28b in 2020. Same is the case for 3G and 2G. Research firm Gartner forecasts that investments in 5G NR (new radio) network infrastructure will account for 6% of the total wireless infrastructure revenue of communications service providers (CSPs) in 2019 and that this figure is expected to reach 12% in 2020. The 5G NR is developed by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), a standards organisation which develops protocols for mobile telephony. In 2018, 3GPP published the “Phase 1” standardisation for the 5G NR standard, which includes sub-6GHz frequency bands. 3GPP is expected to publish the "Phase 2" of 5G NR, by the end of this year, including frequency bands in the mmWave range (20-60GHz).