SON (Self-Organizing Networks) Markets in the 5G & Open RAN Era, 2022-2030: By the End of 2022, the Research Estimates that SON Will Account for a Market Worth $5.5 Billion

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Jan 21, 2023, 10:00 ET

DUBLIN, Jan. 21, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Research and Markets

The "SON (Self-Organizing Networks) in the 5G & Open RAN Era: 2022-2030: Opportunities, Challenges, Strategies & Forecasts" report from SNS Telecom & IT has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The "SON (Self-Organizing Networks) in the 5G & Open RAN Era" report presents a detailed assessment of the SON market, including the value chain, market drivers, barriers to uptake, enabling technologies, functional areas, use cases, key trends, future roadmap, standardization, case studies, ecosystem player profiles and strategies.

The publisher estimates that global spending on RIC platforms, xApps and rApps will reach $120 Million in 2023 as initial implementations move from field trials to production-grade deployments. With commercial maturity, the submarket is further expected to quintuple to nearly $600 Million by the end of 2025.

Annual investments in the wider SON market - which includes licensing of embedded D-SON features, third party C-SON functions and associated OSS platforms, in-house SON capabilities internally developed by mobile operators, and SON-related professional services across the RAN, mobile core and transport domains are expected to grow at a CAGR of approximately 7% during the same period.

The report also provides global and regional market size forecasts for both SON and conventional mobile network optimization from 2022 till 2030, including submarket projections for three network segments, six SON architecture categories, four access technologies and five regional submarkets.

The report comes with an associated Excel datasheet suite covering quantitative data from all numeric forecasts presented in the report.

SON (Self-Organizing Network) technology minimizes the lifecycle cost of running a mobile network by eliminating manual configuration of network elements at the time of deployment right through to dynamic optimization and troubleshooting during operation. Besides improving network performance and customer experience, SON can significantly reduce the cost of mobile operator services, improving the OpEx-to-revenue ratio and deferring avoidable CapEx.

Early adopters of SON have already witnessed a multitude of benefits in the form of accelerated 5G NR and LTE RAN (Radio Access Network) rollout times, simplified network upgrades, fewer dropped calls, improved call setup success rates, higher end user throughput, alleviation of congestion during special events, increased subscriber satisfaction and loyalty, operational efficiencies such as energy and cost savings, and freeing up radio engineers from repetitive manual tasks.

Although SON was originally developed as an operational approach to streamline and automate cellular RAN deployment and optimization, mobile operators and vendors are increasingly focusing on integrating new capabilities such as self-protection against digital security threats and self-learning through AI (Artificial Intelligence) techniques, as well as extending the scope of SON beyond the RAN to include both mobile core and transport network segments - which will be critical to address 5G requirements such as end-to-end network slicing.

In addition, with the cellular industry's ongoing shift towards open interfaces, virtualization and software-driven networking, the SON ecosystem is progressively transitioning from the traditional D-SON (Distributed SON) and C-SON (Centralized SON) approach to open standards-based components supporting RAN programmability for advanced automation and intelligent control.

The surging popularity of innovative Open RAN and vRAN (Virtualized RAN) architectures has reignited the traditionally niche and proprietary product-driven SON market with a host of open standards-compliant RIC (RAN Intelligent Controller), xApp and rApp offerings, which are capable of supporting both near real-time D-SON and non real-time C-SON capabilities for RAN automation and optimization needs.

Topics Covered

The report covers the following topics:

Introduction to SON
Value chain and ecosystem structure
Market drivers and challenges
SON technology, architecture and functional areas
D-SON (Distributed SON), C-SON (Centralized SON), H-SON (Hybrid SON), RIC (RAN Intelligent Controller), xApps and rApps
Review of over 40 SON use cases across the RAN, core and transport domains, ranging from ANR (Automatic Neighbor Relations) and rapid equipment configuration to advanced traffic steering, QoE-based optimization and automated anomaly detection
Key trends in next-generation 5G SON implementations, including Open RAN and vRAN (Virtualized RAN) architectures, dynamic spectrum management, network slicing, edge computing, Big Data, advanced analytics, AI (Artificial Intelligence)/ML (Machine Learning) and zero-touch automation
Case studies of 20 commercial-scale SON deployments and examination of ongoing projects covering both traditional D-SON/C-SON and RIC-x/rApp approaches
Future roadmap for the SON market
Standardization, regulatory and collaborative initiatives
Profiles and strategies of more than 230 ecosystem players
Strategic recommendations for SON solution providers and mobile operators
Market analysis and forecasts from 2022 till 2030

Market Drivers

The 5G & Open RAN Era: Continued Infrastructure Investments
Optimization in Complex Multi-RAN Environments
OpEx & CapEx Reduction: The Cost Savings Potential
Improving Subscriber Experience & Churn Reduction
Power Savings: Towards Greener Mobile Networks
Alleviating Congestion With Traffic Management
Enabling Plug & Play Deployment of Small Cells
Growing Adoption of Private 4G/5G Networks

Market Barriers

Complexity of Implementation
Reorganization & Changes to Standard Engineering Procedures
Lack of Trust in Automation
Proprietary SON Algorithms
Coordination Between Distributed & Centralized SON
Network Security Concerns: New Interfaces & Lack of Monitoring

Key Trends in Next-Generation SON Implementations

Open RAN & vRAN (Virtualized RAN) Architectures
Small Cells, HetNets & RAN Densification
Shared & Unlicensed Spectrum
MEC (Multi-Access Edge Computing)
Network Slicing
Big Data & Advanced Analytics
AI (Artificial Intelligence) & ML (Machine Learning)
NFV (Network Functions Virtualization)
SDN (Software-Defined Networking) & Programmability
Cloud Computing
Private 4G/5G Networks
FWA (Fixed Wireless Access)
DPI (Deep Packet Inspection)
Digital Security for Self-Protection
SON Capabilities for IoT Applications
User-Based Profiling & Optimization for Vertical 5G Applications
Addressing D2D (Device-to-Device) Communications & New Use Cases

SON Deployment Case Studies

AT&T
Bell Canada
Bharti Airtel
BT Group
China Mobile
Elisa
Globe Telecom
KDDI Corporation
MegaFon
NTT DoCoMo
Ooredoo
Orange
Singtel
SK Telecom
Telecom Argentina
Telefonica Group
TIM (Telecom Italia Mobile)
Turkcell
Verizon Communications
Vodafone Group

Conclusion & Strategic Recommendations

Why is the Market Poised to Grow?
2022 - 2025: Transition From Traditional SON to RIC Platforms, xApps & rApps
2026 - 2029: Commercial Maturity of Advanced AI/ML-Based SON Implementations
2030 & Beyond: Towards Zero-Touch 5G & 6G Network Automation
Competitive Industry Landscape: Acquisitions, Alliances & Consolidation
The C-SON Versus D-SON Debate
Evaluating the Practical Benefits of SON
Prospects of Open RAN Standards-Compliant RIC Platforms, xApps & rApps
End-to-End SON: From the RAN to the Core & Transport Domains
Growing Adoption of SON Capabilities for Wi-Fi & Non-3GPP Access Technologies
The Importance of AI & ML-Driven SON Algorithms
Improving End User Experience With QoE-Based Optimization
Enabling Network Slicing & Advanced 5G Capabilities
Greater Focus on Self-Protection
Addressing IoT Optimization
Managing Shared & Unlicensed Spectrum
Easing the Deployment of Private 4G/5G Networks
Assessing the Impact of SON on Optimization & Field Engineers
Strategic Recommendations

Forecast Segmentation

Market forecasts are provided for each of the following submarkets and their subcategories:

SON & Mobile Network Optimization

SON
Conventional Mobile Network Planning & Optimization

SON Network Segment Submarkets

RAN (Radio Access Network)
Mobile Core
Transport (Fronthaul, Midhaul & Backhaul)

RAN Segment SON Architecture Submarkets

Traditional D-SON & C-SON

Embedded D-SON (Distributed SON) Features
Third Party C-SON (Centralized SON) & OSS Platforms

Open RAN RIC, xApps & rApps

RIC (RAN Intelligent Controller) Platforms
Near Real-Time xApps
Non Real-Time rApps

Mobile Operators' In-House SON Tools & Systems

SON Access Network Technology Submarkets

2G & 3G
LTE
5G NR
Wi-Fi & Others

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/eatyqu

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