5G Roaming Spending to Surpass 4G Roaming by 2028

A new study from Juniper Research forecasts that 5G subscribers will spend $10.8 billion 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 spending exceeds spending from 4G subscribers.

Despite the first commercial 5G networks launching in 2019, we believe that it will take a decade for operators to receive more revenue per annum from 5G roaming connections than 4G roaming connections. Juniper Research’s extensive 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.

The key challenge that operators face in maximizing roaming revenue is an inability to efficiently identify and manage roaming connections on networks, leading to roaming revenue leakage. We believe 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).

“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 maximize roaming revenue as competing technologies, such as travel eSIMs, become more popular with mobile subscribers," remarked research author Georgia Allen.