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Executive Summary

A positive outlook

The 5G juggernaut has begun. The number of 5G subscriptions is growing by 1 million per day, while the number of providers offering 5G service deployments surpasses 130,000 worldwide. Industrial and commercial customers have also launched trials and early commercial deployments with private 5G networks.But what happens next? Will service providers stay focused on traditional wireless services or expand to deliver private networks for industrial IoT? How much infrastructure will go to the cloud? When will Open RAN take off and what could stand in its way?We surveyed more than 300 individuals from the Arm ecosystem focused on 5G technology and services to better understand the industry's trends and challenges. Some of the highlights:Demand for 5G is strong. Half the respondents predicted 5G products and services would constitute 51% to 75% of their telecommunications sales by 2027.Energy consumption was the most concerning individual factor with 43% selecting it as their greatest concern within 5G networks and communications industry.Cost is a big concern. More than 40% said high upfront costs were the concern raised most by customers.

A Network Like No Other. Read how Arm partners are creating a foundation for 5G services.

Open RAN is expected to gain traction quickly. Just over 40% of respondents believe Open RAN will constitute half of all of equipment shipments by 2025.So is cloud-based infrastructure. 53% predicted clouds would host 51%-75% of 5G infrastructure by 2027. Nonetheless, 44% said quality-of-service remains the largest potential stumbling block for cloudified 5G.

Who Responded. Three-quarters of respondents who identified their job were software developers with the rest coming from other parts of the ecosystem. In terms of geography, 196 came from the U.S. while 28 and 6, respectively, work in China and Germany. All respondents produce Arm-compatible products or services.