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Research: 5G boost for fixed and mobile business broadband

March 9, 2023

Providers of business broadband services continue to grow and upgrade their footprints in markets all over the world according to latest insights from analyst firm Omdia. From small businesses to large enterprise buyers, broadband adoption has flourished worldwide for many reasons, and will continue to grow subscriptions and revenues. Enabling factors include improvements in quality of services, and changes in the way business buyers use network services. The result is that buyers continue swapping out legacy dedicated circuits for higher-speed/lower-cost broadband alternatives. Wireless broadband is also growing in strength: 5G is the strongest complement yet to conventional wireline services.

Omdia’s Global Enterprise Fixed Broadband Services Forecast, 2020–27 and Global Enterprise 5G Mobile Subscriptions and Revenue Forecast Report, 2022–27 size the broadband services potential in 67 markets worldwide and predict market changes through 2027.

Findings include:

  • On a global basis, a fixed broadband services revenue compound annual growth rate of 2.8 per cent over the next five years. The bulk of revenue growth comes from new primary and secondary broadband connections. Fixed subscription ARPUs will barely budge over the next five years.
  • South Asia in particular holds potential for brisk fixed business broadband revenue growth, spurred by the potential for fixed wireless access.
  • On the mobile business subscriptions front, 5G hits its global tipping point in 2027. As 5G approaches 500 million subscriptions, it will exceed 50 per cent share of the total mobile business broadband market. There will be market disparities in global enterprise 5G adoption, as many countries are still heavily focused on expanding 4G networks.
  • Africa and east/southeast Asia hold strongest potential for mobile business broadband revenue growth. Specific to 5G, south Asia, Africa, east/southeast Asia and Latin America all are strong market candidates that stand to gain rapid momentum over the next five years – if operators take advantage of 5G’s potential as an alternative to wireline broadband.

“Enterprise migration to broadband services is an opportunity for providers to capture market share and grow revenue. The migration is still ongoing, and providers need to have strong infrastructure coverage to capture these opportunities,” advises Adeline Phua, Principal Analyst for Omdia’s Network Transformation Services intelligence service.

“Providers have growth opportunities in broadband services. But it means a commitment to continued investment in new and upgraded technologies,” added Brian Washburn, Research Director, Omdia, Service Provider Enterprise & Wholesale. “Providers need a solid foundation to gauge this opportunity. For this reason, we built our research on new analysis of more than 200 national operators, and evaluated hundreds of business plans worldwide.”

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