Juniper Research cited private 5G networks as one of the primary growth areas for CBRS deployments in the US, as it predicted the number of connections using the band would grow from 17 million in 2023 to 66 million in 2028.

The research company expects industrial use cases across energy, mining and manufacturing to be key drivers, based on the ability of CBRS to deliver lower-cost 5G services to these sectors.

Research analyst Alex Webb stated the “most immediate priority for CBRS vendors must be industrial sectors such as energy, mining and manufacturing, which will provide the most immediate return on investment”.

Juniper Research stated CBRS allows enterprises to deploy services in remote locations without needing public networks from operators, which reduces the cost of connectivity.

By 2028, 50 per cent of CBRS devices including small cells will be attributable to the industrial sector, it stated.

Juniper Research stated 228 million network cells had been deployed for private 5G networks in 2023, predicting the figure will grow to 1.9 billion in 2028.

It stated the higher throughput and low-latency of CBRS-based private 5G would enable applications including real-time machinery monitoring at a lower cost than deploying them on operator-owned spectrum

Juniper Research added another key benefit of private 5G is enabling enterprises to transition to network slicing.