Operator-billed revenue from 5G connections will increase from $5 billion in 2020 to $357 billion globally by 2025, projects Juniper Research.
The growth, driven by rapid migraton of 4G mobile subscribers to 5G networks and new business uses enabled by 5G, will drive 5G’s share of total global operator-billed revenue to 44% during that timeframe, according to Juniper’s new report on 5G operator revenue strategies.
Operators have managed to minimize the disruption of the pandemic by modifying their procedures for the physical rollout of 5G infrastructure, and consumer adoption is exceeding expectations, with total 5G connections expected to exceed 1.5 billion by 2025.
In addition, Juniper projects that 5G connections on average will generate 250% more revenue than average cellular connections by 2025.
However, analysts warn that individual operators will need to continue to invest heavily in 5G network infrastructures to avoid demand-generated loss of functionality and lose business to competitors.