RAN market stabilises at $35bn – Omdia

• The radio access network (RAN) tech sector has shrunk significantly in recent years
• But in 2025 it stabilised, with research firm Omdia pinning its value at about $35bn
• Huawei is still the global market leader, with Ericsson the largest vendor outside China

Here’s a reminder why Ericsson and Nokia are keen to mine new opportunities in non-mobile infrastructure sectors – the global radio access network (RAN) equipment market has shrunk significantly in recent years, and offers little in the way of growth prospects in the near term, though it did at least stabilise in 2025. 

That’s the view of two respected industry research firms, Omdia and Dell’Oro Group.

According to Omdia, which has just completed the research for its fourth quarter and full year 2025 RAN market report, the global RAN tech market (hardware and software, excluding all associated services) was worth about $35bn last year, “essentially flat” compared with 2024, with single digit growth for the global market excluding China, where RAN equipment investments “declined significantly”, notes Omdia mobile infrastructure practice leader and RAN lead analyst Rémy Pascal in comments emailed to TelecomTV. (Pascal’s report will be available soon in Omdia’s mobile infrastructure tracker section). 

According to Pascal’s analysis, on a regional basis the RAN market: Grew significantly in the Middle East and Africa (MEA); grew slightly in North America, Europe and Asia & Oceania (excluding China); and was flat in Latin America. 

Even though RAN investments declined year on year in China, where the major operators have completed the bulk of their 5G rollouts, Huawei is still the global RAN equipment market leader by revenues.

In fact, Huawei increased its global market share “thanks to a more favourable regional mix as well as market share gains in emerging markets,” notes Pascal. The market shares of Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung and Fujitsu changed very little, but ZTE “lost market shares due to its high exposure to China,” though it did not lose market share outside of China, according to Omdia’s analysis.  

Top vendors, 2025 RAN revenue (source: Omdia) 

The combined market share of the top five vendors increased by about one percentage point to 95%.  

Top vendors, 2025 RAN revenue, top 3 by region (source: Omdia) 

In 2026, the Omdia team expects the global RAN market excluding China to grow slightly on a year by year basis,  while RAN investments in China are set to decline further. 

The view that the global market was flat in 2025 and is not expected to change much in value this year is echoed by the team at Dell’Oro. 

“Taking into consideration that the RAN market lost around a fifth of its value between 2022 and 2024, this improved stability in 2025 represents a welcome shift in market conditions,” stated Stefan Pongratz, VP for RAN market research at the Dell’Oro Group, in this announcement. “Helping to explain the improved sentiment are the more favourable regional mix, easier comparisons, and the weaker US dollar. Even so, we have not made any material changes to the short-term outlook and still expect the market to be mostly flat in 2026,” added Pongratz.

Dell’Oro added: “The fundamentals that shape the RAN market have not changed, and the long-term trajectory discussed in the most recent five-year forecast still holds”: A 1% compound annual growth rate over the 2025-2030 period.

This is why Nokia is focusing its growth efforts on its Network Infrastructure division (optical, IP routing, fixed broadband) and Ericsson is striving to find growth in the enterprise market ahead of any new AI-fuelled demand in the wireless infrastructure sector, though of course both European vendors are still investing in and evolving their RAN portfolios with a particular focus on the impact and use of AI – see  Nvidia lights a fire under AI-RAN partner Nokia with $1bn investment and Ericsson launches AI-ready radios, antennas, and AI RAN software to power future networks.

- Ray Le Maistre, Editorial Director, TelecomTV