This brief post aims to share a couple of data points on enterprise private wireless networks (PWN). The first is from Nokia, which reported 820 PWN customers in its 2024 earnings report. Nokia has been reporting the number of PWN clients since 2019, showing a trend of steady growth.
The second data point is from BNetzA, the German telecom regulator. Germany allocated the 3.7–3.8 GHz band for enterprise PWNs in November 2019 and followed shortly after with the 26 GHz band (24.25-27.5 GHz). The most recent data shows that the regulator granted 449 licenses in the 3.7 GHz band and 24 in the 26 GHz band, totalling 474 PWNs, including one pending application for the 3.7 GHz band. BNetzA does not publish the scale of the networks but does provide the names of a little under half of the spectrum license holders.
Challenging Market
Both the Nokia and BNetzA data show a steady but slow growth in PWNs. BNetzA reported 118 licenses in August 2021, or about 49% CAGR. Nokia shows a CAGR of about 45% since 2019. The numbers indicate that PWNs have not yet scaled to match expectations. Moreover, vendors will find it challenging to make a profit from developing PWN solutions at this level of deployments. This partly explains why incumbent vendors have yet to develop a solution targeting enterprises as opposed to service providers.
The German data shows a relatively large number of licenses granted to universities and research centers as well as to telecom companies, including vendors and mobile network operators. It is safe to assume that some of these are platforms for R&D and not for commercial deployments.
Concluding Thought
The main market for private wireless networks remains in China. The approach in China follows strict deployment targets set by the corresponding governments. China’s Mobile Network Operators support the deployment and management of PWNs, which operate in defined shared spectrum. In other words, this highly regulated and policy-driven market encourages the deployment of PWNs. By contrast, many challenges remain in the path of greater PWN adoption in the rest of the world, as discussed in other posts [see here and here].