Europe Lags Behind US, China, and India in 5G Standalone Adoption

Europe is significantly behind the United States, China, and India in the adoption of 5G Standalone (5G SA) technology, with only around 2% of speed test samples originating on 5G SA connections in the first half of this year, a disparity that could impact the region’s competitiveness in emerging tech.

Data shared at the NetworkX event in Paris revealed a substantial gap in 5G SA usage: over 20% in the US, more than 40% in India, and over 80% in China. Luke Kehoe, Industry Analyst, Europe at Ookla, highlighted the difference, stating, “So you’re talking about a massive gulf in not just the actual deployment of the technology, but end user use.” The slower rollout in Europe is linked to the cost of upgrading to a cloud-native 5G SA core and the need to demonstrate sufficient demand to justify the investment.

European telecommunications companies are finding it challenging to translate 5G SA capabilities into marketable products, with enterprises currently seeking solutions rather than network slices. Dr. Terje Jensen, SVP, Global Business Security Officer, Telenor, explained, “We don’t sell private networks as such … we sell an experience to a customer.” Furthermore, the prevalence of extensive fiber networks in many European urban areas diminishes the business case for 5G SA-driven fixed wireless access, a key driver of adoption in the US and India, as detailed in reports from Omdia.

Despite these challenges, some operators, including Orange in France and Romania, Sunrise in Switzerland, and Elisa in Estonia, are deploying 5G SA, and countries like Germany, the United Kingdom, and Spain are leading the way due to fiscal stimuli and coverage obligations. Telenor’s Terje believes 5G SA offers inherent technological advantages, stating, “Standalone is not a big bang thing. It’s incremental… Dynamic network slicing … is a good internal tool for managing your network resources efficiently.” Understanding the difference between 5G SA and NSA is crucial for grasping these benefits.

Officials indicated that European telcos will continue to pursue 5G SA deployment incrementally, focusing on both customer-facing use cases and internal network optimization.