5G core progress and deployment models: survey results and analysis

The results of Analysys Mason’s 4Q 2024 survey show that operators have ambitious plans for 5G standalone (SA) adoption. However, these plans could be delayed if operators are not fully convinced of the benefits of migration. Vendors must therefore urgently prove how a fully cloud-native 5G core can deliver business value, with a focus on the total cost of ownership.

Questions answered in this report

• What are operators’ plans for adopting various architectures in their 5G core deployments?
• What are the major challenges that operators are facing in their deployment of 5G SA and 5G core, and how are these evolving?
• What are operators’ requirements for their 5G core deployments in terms of cloud models, convergence and multi-vendor core?
• What benefits are operators hoping to achieve from their cloud-native 5G core deployments, and how can vendors support these?

Geographical coverage

• Asia–Pacific: 23 operators
• Europe: 20 operators
• North America: 9 operators
• Rest of the world: 9 operators

All respondents are either planning to adopt 5G SA by 2027 or have already deployed it.