The global C-RAN market is projected to register a CAGR of 27.3% during 2024–2030, to reach USD 101.7 Billion by 2030. This can be because many telecom companies are executing 5G services to boost their service capabilities, as several regions are quickly adopting 5G services; the surging C-RAN investments; and the rising need for high bandwidth with less latency.
In addition, C-RAN offers several advantages for service providers such as improved flexibility and scalability, higher spectrum efficiency and energy efficiency, enhanced security, hardware pooling, simplified upgrades and maintenance, lower costs with dark fiber, site simplification, and future-proof capabilities.
Moreover, the rising proliferation of 5G network technologies, owing to the significant use and demand for C-RAN in the future progression of wireless technology, such as 5G and the IoT, is one of the major driving factors for the market growth. This is also ascribed to merits such as effortless arrangement and managing capability, where the conversion from LTE to 5G networks will depend thoroughly on C-RAN development. The 5G network serves several networking requirements, which comprise a large number of customers and enormous connectivity concerns. There is also an implication over the structured utilization of spectrum and network resources to lessen the total cost of ownership (TCO).
The closeness of the cloud RAN technology with indoor small cells is one of the foremost major trends perceived in the market. Telecom operators in the traditional RAN technology find hindrances in establishing the infrastructure for the indoor small cells without the use of any backhaul. Virtualization in the C-RAN acts as a model of plug and play providing high speed, ensuring reliability, and reducing latency to a great extent, and it is also congruent with indoor small cells.
Telecom operators have increased their focus on the adoption of 5G technology, which is one of the major factors driving the growth of the market. Presently, most of the telecom operators have arranged through traditional RAN, which includes a baseband unit, remote radio unit, and fronthaul. However, such an infrastructure needs networking hardware, which, in turn, expands the capital expenditure and operational costs. To avoid such expenses, operators are in great need to prefer C-RAN, as it is based on software that centralizes baseband units and also offers higher scalability.
Geographically, North America holds the largest revenue share in the market. This is due to the high LTE network coverage, arrangement of the 5G network, escalated investments in new technologies, and the presence of key industry players in the region. Also, telecom operators are increasingly investing in advanced infrastructure and working on research and development of new solutions in the U.S. and Canada.
Whereas, the APAC market for C-RAN, during the expected duration, is forecasted to witness the fastest growth. This can be ascribed to the lofty adoption of the LTE network technology, the rising demand for 5G network, the increasing number of small and medium-sized enterprises, the surging adoption of cloud-based technologies, the rising investments in this sector, and the enlargement of the telecommunications industry in the region.
Some of the key players in the C-RAN market include Verizon Communications Inc., Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson, Fujitsu Limited, Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., Cisco Systems Inc., Nokia Corporation, ZTE Corporation, NEC Corporation, Intel Corporation, and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.