Core Network Equipment Market Report 2026

The core network equipment market size has grown strongly in recent years. It will grow from $26.44 billion in 2025 to $28.27 billion in 2026 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.9%. The growth in the historic period can be attributed to legacy circuit-switched infrastructure dominance, limited network virtualization adoption, hardware-centric core network architecture dependence, fragmented subscriber management systems, manual network provisioning processes.

The core network equipment market size is expected to see strong growth in the next few years. It will grow to $37.29 billion by 2030 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.2%. The growth in the forecast period can be attributed to cloud-native core network migration acceleration, increased 5g standalone core deployments, rising adoption of network automation and orchestration platforms, expansion of edge-core convergence architecture, growing demand for ultra-low latency and high-capacity connectivity. Major trends in the forecast period include virtualized network functions (vnf) adoption in core networks, software defined networking (sdn) driven centralized control of traffic flows, cloud-native telecom core transformation using containerized architectures, network slicing enabled differentiated service delivery for 5g and beyond, subscriber authentication and policy management modernization for secure connectivity.

The rising demand for high-speed data transmission is expected to propel the growth of the core network equipment market going forward. High-speed data transmission refers to the rapid transfer of large volumes of data across communication networks with minimal latency and high reliability. The demand for high-speed data transmission is rising due to the rapid growth of data-intensive digital services, which require faster and more reliable data transfer to ensure seamless performance and low latency. Core network equipment supports high-speed data transmission by enabling efficient data routing, network scalability, and enhanced bandwidth management across telecom infrastructures. For instance, in May 2025, according to the Federal Communications Commission, a US-based government agency, as of December 2024, approximately 110 million homes and small businesses, representing 95% coverage, had access to terrestrial fixed broadband services offering speeds of 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload or higher, reflecting an increase of nearly one million locations compared with June 2024. Therefore, the rising demand for high-speed data transmission is driving the growth of the core network equipment market.

Leading companies operating in the core network equipment market are focusing on technological advancements in 5G core network technologies, such as cloud-native standalone (SA) core architectures with service-based interfaces, to improve network scalability, enable ultra-low latency communication, and support advanced use cases including network slicing and edge computing. Cloud-native standalone core architectures with service-based interfaces refer to next-generation core network frameworks that decompose network functions into microservices, enabling dynamic orchestration, containerized deployment, and real-time communication between network functions through APIs to enhance flexibility and performance. For example, in May 2024, Ericsson, a Sweden-based telecommunications company, collaborated with XL Axiata, an Indonesia-based mobile telecommunications services operator, to introduce its dual-mode 5G Core solution, which enables full cloud-native deployment with containerized network functions, incorporates built-in network slicing capabilities for differentiated service delivery, and supports service-based architecture (SBA) with API-driven communication to improve scalability and interoperability across telecom networks.

In June 2023, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, a US-based provider of edge-to-cloud enterprise solutions, completed the acquisition of Athonet for an undisclosed sum. Through this acquisition, Hewlett Packard Enterprise seeks to strengthen its 5G core network portfolio by incorporating Athonet’s mobile core technology, facilitating the deployment of cloud-native and private core network solutions. Athonet is an Italy-based provider of mobile core network software tailored for private LTE and 5G core network deployments across various industries.

Major companies operating in the core network equipment market are Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., International Business Machines Corporation, Cisco Systems Inc., Oracle Corporation, Broadcom Inc., Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company, Fujitsu Limited, Ericsson AB, NEC Corporation, Nokia Corporation, ZTE Corporation, Arista Networks Inc., FiberHome Telecommunication Technologies Co. Ltd., Ciena Corporation, F5 Inc., Ubiquiti Inc., Extreme Networks Inc., Viavi Solutions Inc., Calix Inc., NetScout Systems Inc., Himachal Futuristic Communications Limited, Aviat Networks Inc., Ceragon Networks Ltd., Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd.

North America was the largest region in the core network equipment market in 2025. Asia-Pacific is expected to be the fastest-growing region in the forecast period. The regions covered in the core network equipment market report are Asia-Pacific, South East Asia, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Middle East, Africa. The countries covered in the core network equipment market report are Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan, Russia, South Korea, UK, USA, Canada, Italy, Spain.

The core network equipment market consists of revenues earned by entities by providing services such as network design and integration, installation and deployment, managed network services, maintenance and technical support, software upgrades, network optimization, cybersecurity services, consulting, cloud migration support, and training services. The market value includes the value of related goods sold by the service provider or included within the service offering. The core network equipment market also includes sales of servers, processors, switching equipment, and network infrastructure systems. Values in this market are ‘factory gate’ values, that is, the value of goods sold by the manufacturers or creators of the goods, whether to other entities (including downstream manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors, and retailers) or directly to end customers. The value of goods in this market includes related services sold by the creators of the goods.

The market value is defined as the revenues that enterprises gain from the sale of goods and/or services within the specified market and geography through sales, grants, or donations in terms of the currency (in USD unless otherwise specified).

The revenues for a specified geography are consumption values that are revenues generated by organizations in the specified geography within the market, irrespective of where they are produced. It does not include revenues from resales along the supply chain, either further along the supply chain or as part of other products.

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