Here's why standalone 5G is not ready for primetime

Source 
Author 
Coverage Type 

As we enter 2025, Standalone 5G (5G SA) continues to struggle to deliver on its transformative potential. Operators are hesitant to embrace its high deployment costs without clear and immediate revenue opportunities. Despite promises of ultra-low latency, massive IoT, and network slicing capabilities, enterprise use cases remain niche, hindered by limited demand, high implementation complexity, and a lack of scalable business cases. Five years into its global rollout, 5G monetization remains elusive for most operators. While network utilization has grown and metrics like speed and coverage have improved, translating these advancements into meaningful revenue has proven difficult. The industry must pivot from a narrow focus on network achievements to prioritizing customer-centric innovations. Without compelling 5G SA use cases and monetization strategies, 5G risks being remembered as a missed opportunity.

 

[Sylwia Kechiche is a Senior Director of Industry Analysis at Opensignal.]


Here's why standalone 5G is not ready for primetime