Evolved Packet Core (EPC) revenues were up 13 percent year-over-year (Y/Y) in 2Q 2019, according to a new report from Dell'Oro Group. 5G Core deployments are expected in 2020.
“EPC revenues grew for a fourth consecutive quarter at double-digit percentages, growing 13 percent Y/Y in 2Q 2019,” said Dave Bolan, Senior Analyst at Dell’Oro Group. “You can hardly go a day now without a 5G launch being announced somewhere in the world. That means all of those service providers had to upgrade their EPC to carry 5G traffic,” continued Bolan.
“As we move into 2020, service providers will start to expand their 5G coverage by adding 5G standalone base stations that will require the 5G Core. We expect to see some 5G Core revenues as early as the first quarter. But the revenues will be small and not significant as service providers build out small markets to learn how to use the 5G Core before rolling out nationwide,” added Bolan.
Additional highlights from the 2Q 2019 Wireless Packet Core quarterly report include:
- The top three EPC vendor rankings for the quarter were Ericsson, Huawei, and Nokia.
- The Asia Pacific region had the highest EPC Y/Y revenue growth rate for the quarter accounting for over 40 percent of the revenue.
- The trend towards more network function virtualization (NFV) continued accounting for 39 percent of the EPC revenue in the quarter.
