Core network equipment market seen reaching $37.29B by 2030

The Business Research Company says the core network equipment market will rise from $28.27 billion in 2026 to $37.29 billion by 2030 as operators shift to cloud-native cores, 5G standalone networks and automation. North America led the market in 2025, while Asia-Pacific is expected to grow fastest through the forecast period.

Why it matters: - Core network equipment sits at the center of telecom infrastructure, supporting routing, switching, subscriber authentication and traffic management across mobile, fixed and IP networks. - Faster data transmission demand is pushing carriers to upgrade networks for higher capacity, lower latency and more reliable connectivity. - The market's projected growth signals continued spending on the backbone systems that support 5G, cloud services and edge computing.

What happened: - The Business Research Company released its Core Network Equipment Global Market Report 2026, covering market size, trends and forecasts for 2026-2035. - The report estimates the market will grow from $26.44 billion in 2025 to $28.27 billion in 2026, a 6.9% CAGR. - The same report projects the market will reach $37.29 billion by 2030, at a 7.2% CAGR. - North America held the largest market share in 2025. - Asia-Pacific is projected to be the fastest-growing region during the forecast period.

The details: - The report links past growth to legacy circuit-switched infrastructure, limited network virtualization, hardware-heavy core designs, fragmented subscriber management and manual setup processes. - Future growth is tied to faster migration to cloud-native core networks and wider deployment of 5G standalone cores. - Network automation and orchestration tools are expected to gain broader use. - Edge-core convergence architectures are becoming more important. - Demand is rising for ultra-low latency and high-capacity connectivity. - Key market trends include virtualized network functions, software-defined networking for centralized traffic control, containerized cloud-native telecom cores, network slicing for differentiated 5G services and stronger subscriber authentication and policy management. - The report's geographic coverage includes Asia-Pacific, South East Asia, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, the Middle East and Africa. - The report also highlights market attractiveness scoring, total addressable market analysis, company scoring matrices, Excel forecasting dashboards, market hotspot infographics, and updated graphics and tables. - A free sample is available at download a free sample of the report. - The full report is available at view the full market report.

Between the lines: - The market forecast reflects a shift from hardware-centric telecom cores toward software-defined and cloud-native architectures. - The report's emphasis on automation, slicing and policy management suggests carriers are prioritizing network flexibility and service differentiation. - The FCC data cited in the release points to continued broadband expansion in the US, which reinforces demand for stronger core network capacity. - In May 2025, the FCC said roughly 110 million US homes and small businesses had access to terrestrial fixed broadband speeds of at least 100 Mbps down and 20 Mbps up as of December 2024, covering 95% of locations. - That figure was up by nearly one million connections from June 2024.

What's next: - Adoption of virtualized network functions and software-defined networking is expected to accelerate through 2030. - 5G standalone core rollouts and cloud-native telecom deployments are likely to drive vendor demand. - Asia-Pacific's growth trajectory suggests the next wave of investment will be concentrated in expanding digital infrastructure across the region.

The bottom line: - Core network equipment is moving from a legacy telecom backbone to a software-led growth market, with automation, 5G and cloud-native architectures driving the next phase of spending.