Forecast: 5G roaming spend to surpass 4G by 2028
March 24, 2025
A study from Juniper Research, the foremost experts in telecommunications markets, forecasts that 5G subscribers will spend $10.8 billion (€9.9bn) on roaming globally in 2028; rising from $4.2 billion in 2025. Juniper Research expects 2028 to be the first year in which 5G roaming spend exceeds spend from 4G subscribers.
Despite the first commercial 5G networks launching in 2019, Juniper Research believes that it will take a decade for operators to receive more revenue per annum from 5G roaming connections than 4G roaming connections. The research indicates that complex 5G architectures and more comprehensive roaming agreements have resulted in a slow deployment of 5G roaming; restricting the growth of 5G roaming spend.
Operators Not Yet Efficient Enough in Roaming
The key challenge that operators face in maximising roaming revenue is an inability to efficiently identify and manage roaming connections on networks; leading to roaming revenue leakage. Juniper Research believes that this leakage, primarily caused by inaccurate roaming settlements and fraudulent activities, will be greatly diminished by the implementation of 5G standalone roaming agreements. Standalone networks use next-generation cores that enable more efficient roaming technologies to be used, such as SEPP (Security Edge Protection Proxy).
Research author, Georgia Allen, commented “Despite the high investment associated with standalone technologies, we believe that the increased roaming revenue achieved from better identification of connections will outweigh this investment. In turn, we urge operators to implement 5G standalone network cores to maximise roaming revenue as competing technologies, such as travel eSIMs, become more popular with mobile subscribers.”
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