Omdia counted more than 1 billion global 5G subscriptions as of year-end 2022—the fastest rollout in history. But there is still much work ahead. As operators move from NSA to SA cores and prepare for Release 18 from the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), service providers are investigating the kinds of transport technologies and architectures that will support the advanced 5G networks to come. Transport network upgrades must stay ahead of the radio network.

Now in its fourth year, Heavy Reading’s Operator Strategies for 5G Transport project surveys network operators globally about 5G transport timelines, requirements, technologies, and challenges as they prepare for 5G-Advanced. This white paper analyzes the 2023 survey results.