Global roaming subscribers using 5G services will grow from 4.5 million in 2021 to 210 million in 2026, a 4,500 per cent increase, as operators accelerate their rollout of 5G networks and the international travel industry recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic, says a study by Juniper Research.
The findings state that operators should focus on expanding 5G roaming support so that the future demand for data on 5G networks can be met.
Furthermore, operators should develop features like roaming analytics, sponsored roaming, and steering roaming.
The report concluded that vendors should offer value-added services to subscribers when roaming over 5G to home networks to meet their demand for bandwidth and latency.
It also projected that global roaming data traffic from 5G subscribers will reach 770 petabytes (PB) by 2026, up from 2.6 PB in 2021, enough to stream 115 million hours of 4K video from platforms like Netflix.
Additionally, the study noted that the projected rise in data consumption will necessitate collaboration between 5G roaming operators to ensure comparable roaming experiences for subscribers.
