Want to know what’s happening and what’s coming in the communications industry? Turn to a test and measurement company that’s well-positioned to manage all the latest communications technologies for major communications vendors and carriers. It could be much worse than that, and it could be much worse. And what better than to have Steven Douglas, Spirent’s head of market strategy, on board with this? Blower.which is what RCR wireless We did so in early 2024 when we were tasked with assessing the state of the private 5G market, particularly as it interfaces with Industry 4.0.
UK-based Spirent, fresh off the back of a $1.3 billion sale to US peer Viabi, expected to close in the second half of 2024, is eyeing the private networks market and its burgeoning private networks business. “This is a growth area,” Douglas says. “Our traditional 5G business is huge. Across our ecosystem, we have around 3,100 engagements around the world. And that continues. A big part of that is the transition to standalone 5G (SA). It’s a driving force in the 5G space. But private 5G is certainly a growth area. And it’s also strategic.”
He explains: “We’re most excited about the ecosystem collaboration. It brings us into the enterprise space and brings new opportunities, because it’s no longer just about mobile phones. Enterprises want security too. Enterprise SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) etc. So how do you test and validate that? And while Spirent has traditionally tested smartphones on 5G systems, we are now testing e.g. People are asking about cameras that require a specific quality of experience, which means the ecosystem is growing. [with private 5G]. That’s the trajectory, but it’s still early days. ”
Indeed, this consideration of the private opportunity for Spirent speaks equally to the broader changes and advances in early development, associated services, and ecosystem building in this niche subset of the communications market. Masu. The points about “ecosystem alignment” are applicable to all players on the telco side of the Industry 4.0 equation. It’s also a great introduction to Douglas’ views on the current state of the private 5G market (continued in another article). But first, he uses Spirent’s “proprietary customer engagement and independent market analysis” to explore how the market has changed over the past few years since spectrum began to be liberalized for businesses in certain countries. provides insight into how it has expanded.
Spirent counts “slightly more than” 1,200 private LTE or 5G networks worldwide, excluding China. “There are thousands of people in China who are not necessarily clearly civilians,” Douglas said. That total covers commercial properties only. “There’s no evidence, there’s no trial,” he says. This may explain the difference from other counts. However, access to data and trends in inference can also be explained. (Berg Insight says there are 2,900 companies to date, and Analysys Mason puts it at 4,000 by the end of 2022. GSA says 1,384 companies have partnered with private cell phones in some way through January of this year.)
Mr Douglas said: “These are his three-year cumulative numbers, and it shows that the market is still in its infancy.” He also stands by his own numbers. “We work with all the major equipment vendors, so that gives us a lot of great insight.”The biggest challenge is that these corporate networks actually It is to identify whether it is based on 5G or not. Or whether it’s an LTE system, or a hybrid of her two. “Very few vendors are sharing that information,” he says. But Spirent’s best insights are gleaned from his workbench gear. Here are his five key points presented by Mr. Douglas:
to be continued…
For more from Stephen Douglas and Spirent on this topic, check out the recent RCR Wireless webinar on the state of the private 5G market. Also, keep an eye out for an editorial report on the same subject early next month (April 2024).
