Private 5G market ‘nears mainstream’ with $5bn surge

After noting an increase in private 5G network deployments by household names in the telecoms industry and industrial giants across vertical industries, research shows investments in such networks are set to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 41% between 2025 and 2028, with annual spending projected to reach $5bn by 2028.

Outlining the fundamentals of private 5G communications following its study, SNS Telecom & IT’s Private 5G market: 2025-2030 report states that private mobile networks based on LTE communications have been a well-established market and have been around for more than a decade, albeit as a niche segment of the wider cellular infrastructure segment.

However, the analyst emphasised how private cellular networks, or non-public networks (NPNs) based on 3GPP-defined 5G specifications, are just on the cusp of becoming a mainstream technology, with a market potential exceeding that of private LTE.

Additionally, on a technological basis, explaining why 5G private networks are a considerable improvement, SNS Telecom & IT noted that compared with LTE technology, private 5G networks can address far more demanding performance requirements in terms of throughput, latency, reliability, availability and connection density.

In particular, the report cited 5G’s Ultra-Reliable, Low-Latency Communications (URLLC) and Massive Machine-Type Communications (mMTC) capabilities. These, along with a future-proof transition path to 6G networks in the 2030s, have positioned private 5G as a viable alternative to physically wired connections for industrial-grade communications between machines, robots and control systems, said the analyst.

Furthermore, the report highlights that 5G’s wider coverage radius per radio node, scalability, determinism, security features and mobility support have stirred strong interest in its potential as a replacement for interference-prone unlicensed wireless technologies in industrial internet of things environments, where the number of connected sensors and other endpoints is expected to increase significantly over the coming years.

Looking at the financials, the study projects that total annual investments in private 5G networks for vertical industries will grow at a CAGR of approximately 41% between 2025 and 2028, eventually surpassing the $5bn mark by the end of 2028.

The study notes that, initially, much of the growth will be driven by highly localised 5G networks covering geographically limited areas for Industry 4.0 applications in manufacturing and process industries. In these areas, sub-1GHz wide area critical communications networks for public safety, utility and railway communications are anticipated to accelerate their transition from LTE, GSM-R and other legacy narrowband technologies to 5G towards the latter half of the forecast period.

Over the past 12 months, organisations in the US, Canada, Germany, the UK, France, China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, Brazil, and other countries ramped up their digitisation and automation initiatives. Private 5G installations have progressed to a stage where practical and tangible benefits – particularly efficiency gains, cost savings and worker safety – are becoming increasingly evident.

It reported that there has been a noticeable increase in production-grade deployments of private 5G networks by industrial giants such as Airbus, Aker BP, Boliden, Coal India Limited, Equinor, Etihad, Ford, Hutchison Ports, Hyundai, Jaguar Land Rover, John Deere, LG Electronics, Lufthansa, Newmont, POSCO, Tesla, Toyota and Walmart. Such investments, said the analyst, were paving the way for Industry 4.0 and advanced application scenarios.

Examples of such scenarios included Tesla, LG Electronics and Hyundai eliminating connection-related stoppages since migrating automated guided vehicle (AGV) and autonomous mobile robot (AMR) communications from unlicensed Wi-Fi systems to private 5G networks at their production facilities in the US and South Korea. The French city of Istres has also reduced video surveillance camera installation costs from $34,000 to less than $6,000 per unit by replacing fibre-based connections with a private 5G network.

Elsewhere, China Huaneng Group is relying on a tri-band (700MHz, 2.6GHz and 4.9GHz) 5G-Advanced network to safely coordinate a fleet of 100 unmanned electric mining trucks at its Yimin open pit coal mine in Inner Mongolia.