Dell’Oro Group reports stable RAN revenue and increased Mobile Core Network revenue in 3Q 2025

The Dell’Oro Group's recent analysis of the Radio Access Network (RAN) market outlined that after a two-year period of declines, total revenue for baseband, radio hardware, and software remained generally stable from the first to the third quarter of 2025 outside China, with increases noted when excluding North America.

Operationally, the report details that growth in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region nearly balanced out revenue decreases observed in North America and Asia Pacific. The market share further concentrated among leading suppliers, including Huawei, Ericsson, Nokia, ZTE, and Samsung, representing 96% of the worldwide RAN market in the first three quarters of 2025, up from 95% in the prior year.

From a technical perspective, the RAN market encompasses hardware and software components encompassing 5G New Radio (NR) Sub-7 GHz, Millimeter Wave (mmWave), Long Term Evolution (LTE), macro base stations, small cells, Massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO), Open RAN (ORAN), and virtual RAN technologies. The combined revenue shares of Huawei and Ericsson represent nearly two-thirds of the global RAN market, with improvements in their market penetration relative to 2024.

The report further indicates that Huawei and Nokia increased their share of RAN revenue outside North America in 2025 compared to the previous year. Near-term predictions suggest that the total RAN market is expected to remain stable into 2026.

Stefan Pongratz, Vice President of RAN market research at Dell’Oro Group, said, “The nearly stable results for the 1Q25-3Q25 period bolster the flat growth thesis we have communicated for some time, reflecting the current state of the 5G network.”

In addition, Dell’Oro Group published findings on the Mobile Core Network (MCN) segment, reporting a 14% year-over-year increase in revenue outside China for the third quarter of 2025. The company identified 72 Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) having deployed 5G Standalone (SA) core networks, with twelve operators commercially launching 5G-Advanced networks based on newer 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) specifications including Releases 18 and 19.

Dave Bolan, Research Director at Dell’Oro Group, stated, “The Chinese market experienced abnormally high growth in 3Q 2024. As a result, the China market revenue declined 39 percent Y/Y for 3Q 2025. The revenue for all the other regions increased, between 9 percent and 17 percent Y/Y, resulting in a worldwide revenue decline of 2 percent Y/Y. As noted, revenue worldwide excluding China rose 14 percent Y/Y, continuing the trend in subscribers migrating to 5G Standalone (5G SA).”