- Dell’Oro says that 5G-Advanced is starting to take off with 12 operators deploying it so far
- Dell’Oro’s Bolan tells Fierce that dynamic network slicing is the first 5G-A many operators are rolling out
- The 5G SA core will be key to deploying 5G-Advanced and 6G
On-demand dynamic network slicing is the “predominant new service” being rolled out by the first operators deploying 5G-Advanced in China and across the globe, Dell'Oro Group Research Director Dave Bolan told Fierce.
Bolan said that of the 72 mobile network operators (MNOs) that have deployed standalone 5G (5G SA), a dozen have now launched 5G-Advanced. “We have identified 12 MNOs that have commercially launched 5G-Advanced networks (not all this quarter), to take 5G to the next level with new features and performance,” he noted in a statement.
The number includes China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom, as well as other Asian operators, such as CTM in Macau, HKT in Hong Kong, Singtel in Singapore, YTL in Malaysia and Telstra in Australia. Du and e& in the United Arab Emirates, as well as Zain in Kuwait, have also deployed the latest 5G standard.
T-Mobile in the United States has been ahead of the field in deploying 5G SA and has now moved to rolling out 5G-Advanced services. The operator launched a service that helps to fix 5G video jitters in July and public-private local breakouts in October.
Mobile core rising
A desire to deploy 5G-Advanced appears to be motivating more operators to deploy 5G SA. This is because many operators are still using a 4G core to control their 5G radios and they can’t move onto 5G-Advanced and eventually 6G without first moving to 5G SA. Operators from NTT DoCoMo to Verizon expect to use the 5G SA core as the basis for the 6G core network (rather than upgrading to a 6G core), noting how much trouble and expense the 5G SA core upgrade caused.
“The latest releases of the 5G core will enable more capability as 6G evolves, primarily for bandwidth-intensive applications that 6G RAN will enable,” Dell’Oro’s Bolan told Fierce.
The analyst noted that the mobile core market was up 14% outside of China for the third quarter of 2025. China was down for the quarter because it had experienced “abnormally high growth” in the market in same quarter last year.
Bolan added that he expects the trend towards standalone to continue in 2026. The top vendors in the sector are Huawei, Ericsson, Nokia, and ZTE.