Japan 5G Base Station Equipment Market Size, Share, Opportunities, And Trends By Deployment (Urban, Rural), By Equipment Type (Central Unit, Distributed Unit, Radio Unit), By Technology (O-RAN, Traditional RAN), By Configuration (Standalone, Non-Standalone), And By Frequency Band (3.7 GHz And 4.5 GHz Bands, 28 GHz Band) - Forecasts From 2024 To 2029

The Japan 5G base station equipment market is anticipated to grow from US$808.837 million in 2022 to US$2,082.512 million in 2029 at a CAGR of 14.47%.

GROWTH DRIVERS

• Favorable government initiatives and rural base station expansion have propelled the market growth.

Japan is one of the leading economies in Asia and is at the forefront of advancing its network technology. Witnessing the growing shift towards the 5G network, the government is implementing necessary initiatives such as granting licenses to major mobile carriers, namely, KDDI, Rakuten, NTT Docomo, and Softbank, for rolling out the 5G technology.

Likewise, modifying the “5G Introduction Promotion Tax” as a part of the FY2022 tax reform to stimulate the base station expansion, particularly in rural areas, would further realize the nation’s goal of "Vision for a Digital Garden City Nation." Hence, with the implementation of declining tax credit rates, the application timeframe was increased by three years to bolster aggressive development The table below showcased the list of qualifying enterprises, tax credit rates, and so on.

OUTLINE OF 5G INTRODUCTION PROMOTION TAX

  Applicable until March 31, 2025

• Favorable investments & partnerships to bolster deployment have accelerated the market expansion.

Owing to increased government initiatives for the smoother deployment of 5g across Japan, various investment plans can also be witnessed. For instance,

DEPLOYMENT RATE OF 5G BASE STATIONS

The government has announced the expansion of 5G across Japan. Initially, they had planned to expand the deployment of 5G with a rate of 6.9%, but in 2020, the rate of deployment of the 5G base station reached 16.50%.

EMERGING OPPORTUNITIES IN THE JAPAN 5G BASE STATION EQUIPMENT MARKET

• Standalone

Standalone provides close to real-time communication with zero lag, and its ultra-low latency, user connectivity, and authentication offer all the benefits of 5G, which are not limited to 4G LTE. The favorable investments followed by the initiative to bolster the latest network technology in Japan have accelerated 5G subscriptions in the country, thereby leading to new launches of standalone configurations in the marketplace. For instance,

• In February 2024, Samsung announced that its 5G Standalone Core went live on KDDI’s commercial “5G SA’ services in Japan and would deliver faster response timing with improved reliability for cloud gaming, autonomous vehicles, and immersive video. KDDI partnered with Samsung in February 2023 to provide the former with a 5G SA core.
• In August 2022, NTT DOCOMO, in collaboration with Qualcomm Inc., launched the world’s first commercial 5G standalone network service featuring 5G Dual NR Connectivity. This would enable smartphones powered by Snapdragon, such as “Snapdragon8,” to utilize mmWave and mid-band frequencies.

O-RAN

O-RAN’s ability to support interoperation vendor equipment and network flexibility at a lower cost is driving their adoption of 5G networks. Japan’s mobile operators are looking to improve their network performance, especially to bolster their goodwill for 5G, and with the growing emergence of base stations followed by regulatory standards, the transition to an open system is set to pick up pace.

Various strategic collaboration, deployment, development, and tests have been undertaken to understand the open network architecture. For instance, in February 2022, KDDI Corporation, along with Samsung and Fujitsu Limited, turned on the world’s first commercial 5G standalone O-RAN site in Japan powered by vRAN. The site used KDDI’s O-RAN-compliant solutions.

MAJOR PLAYERS IN THE MARKET

 Leading market players, namely Nokia, Fujitsu, Ericsson, Samsung, and NEC, to expand their market presence are implementing strategic moves such as product launches and collaboration with major mobile operators in Japan. For instance,

• In September 2023, Fujitsu delivered its O-RAN Alliance complaint 5G vRAN solutions to NTT Docomo that would bolster the latter in rolling out its commercial 5G network services in Japan. The deployment also contributed to Fujitsu’s effort to develop ORAN architecture via technological innovation.
• In May 2023, Ericson was elected by KDDI Corporation. The former would provide subterrain antennas for the latter’s “Man-Hole” 5G base stations. The underground installation would save space and facilitate the use of optical fibers and electric power to provide robust connectivity in compact spaces.
• In January 2022, NEC Corporation launched its two new models inclusive of base-station radio units and baseband units from its “UNIVERGE 1000 Series”. The model primarily supports private 5G and small networks, enabling organizations to build their networks.

FEATURES OF JAPAN’S 5G FREQUENCIES

Three frequency bands—3.7GHz, 4.5GHz, and 28GHz—will be used for the deployment of 5G technology across Japan.

Source: NTT DOCOMO

Japan 5G Base Station Equipment Market Scope:

Japan’s 5G Base Station Equipment market is segmented and analyzed as:

• By Deployment
  • Urban
  • Rural
• By Equipment Type
  • Central Unit
  • Distributed Unit
  • Radio Unit
• By Technology
  • O-RAN
  • Traditional RAN
• By Configuration
  • Standalone
  • Non-Standalone
• By Frequency Band
  • 3.7 GHz and 4.5 GHz Bands
  • 28 GHz Band