IPX Networks to Carry 1,900 Petabytes of Consumer & IoT Roaming Data Traffic in 2022: Kaleido Intelligence

Faster Growth in Consumer Data Roaming Usage in 2022 Will Lead to Double Traffic Levels Transported in 2019, With 5G NSA Traffic Representing 5% by the End of This Year

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--New research from roaming experts Kaleido Intelligence has found that data roaming traffic transported by IPX vendors in 2022 will exceed 1,900 Petabytes of data, representing nearly a two-fold increase over 2019 volumes.

Following the pandemic, mobile operators are witnessing an increasing demand from roamers for enhanced data allowances, with operators in Europe reporting anywhere between 100-450% increase in data roaming usage.

Kaleido forecasts that consumer and IoT data roaming traffic carried via IPX networks will reach 6,300 PB by 2027, representing an annual average growth of 27% over the next 5 years.

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International Travel Recovery Expected in 2024

The research, IPX: Market Strategies & Opportunities 2022, found that while roaming usage remained lower than pre-COVID levels in 2021, operators and IPX providers are witnessing usage exceed pre-COVID levels in H1 2022. Current levels represent 2-3 times growth over 2019 demand, reaching new record high levels during the summer months.

In comparison, international travel is expected to recover to 2019 levels only by 2024. This means that operators must prepare for even greater and new levels of roaming usage and traffic as travel recovery continues to gather momentum.

5G SA Roaming & IPX Requirements

Kaleido conducted 3 surveys in 2022, interviewing hundreds of mobile operator participants, regarding the importance of IPX and 5G roaming, as well as key requirements and challenges as perceived by the operators.

The top 5 operator expectations from IPX vendors for launching 5G SA roaming were as follows:

• Enabling a wider range of 5G SA roaming use cases
• Supporting advanced network slicing functions
• 5G SA roaming testing support
• 5G SA signalling support via HTTP/2
• Delivering security solutions for 5G SA

Nitin Bhas, Chief Analyst at Kaleido, commented: “Roaming data usage is witnessing record levels in 2022 and this increase in usage will only be exacerbated by the rising number of 5G roamers and continued recovery in international travel. The need to support this growth in traffic alongside enabling newer network functions and IPX interconnect protocols such as SEPP and HTTP/2 is of utmost importance to operators.”

5G To Account for 5% of 2022 IPX Data Roaming Traffic

5G roaming deployments have primarily been on non-standalone network (NSA) modes; 5G SA roaming will launch over the next 12 months, with several operators now trialling the same.

The volume of 5G roaming data traffic carried over IPX networks will approach 4,500 PB in 2027, representing approximately 72% of total data traffic carried; currently, in 2022, this is estimated to be around 5%.

Get further details on the IPX: Market Outlook & Opportunities 2020 report

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About Kaleido Intelligence

Kaleido Intelligence is a specialist consulting and market research firm with a proven track record delivering telecom research at the highest level. Kaleido Intelligence is the only research company addressing mobile roaming in its entirety, covering:

• Data Forecasts by Market
• Historical & Forecast Viewpoints
• Competitive Intelligence
• Strategic Insight
• Trend Analysis

Research is led by expert analysts, each with significant experience delivering telco research and insights that matter.