- SNS said that standalone 5G projects are taking place in France, Spain, Mexico, the United States and the UAE
- T-Mobile and Verizon have launched first responder slices
- SNS said that the market would be worth $6.3 billion by the end of 2028
Standalone 5G is starting to make its mark on the public safety market, as both mobile operators and private network providers are taking advantage of low-latency and slicing capabilities of a pure 5G network.
As SNS Telecom & IT notes in its latest report: “Public mobile operators in some countries are pitching network slicing over their recently launched standalone 5G cores as an alternative to dedicated networks.” Meanwhile, the analysts note that independent small-to-medium scale private 5G networks are also being deployed to address specific needs.
Standalone projects are taking place in Abu Dhabi, France, Mexico, Spain and United States right now. The projects involve everything from network slices for first responders to a private 5G network that lessens video surveillance installation costs.
Emergency slivers
Fierce has already covered the first responder slices launched by T-Mobile and Verizon, which are intended to rival AT&T’s purpose-built FirstNet network. T-Mobile and Verizon have both said these are nationwide slices.
In Spain, SNS said, Madrid City Council and UME (Emergency Military Unit) have adopted tactical bubble solutions – based on transportable private 5G cell sites and network slicing over commercial 5G networks – for enhanced emergency preparedness and forest firefighting operations.
Keep it private
The analysts said that the Abu Dhabi Police have recently procured a private 5G system, with an initial focus on high-definition video surveillance.
The southern French city of Istres has deployed a private 5G network to reduce video surveillance camera installation costs by up to 80% by eliminating infrastructure-related overheads typically associated with fiber-based connections.
Meanwhile, SNS said that Mexico City police are using a standalone private 5G network to enable low-latency streaming of visual content to wireless virtual reality (VR) headsets as part of an immersive training system.
The numbers
The SNS Telecom & IT's report indicates that annual spending on LTE and 5G NR-based public safety broadband infrastructure and devices will exceed $6.3 billion globally by the end of 2028.
The report estimates that annual investments in public safety LTE/5G infrastructure and devices reached $5 billion in 2025, driven by both new projects and the expansion of existing networks. The market will further grow at a compound growth rate of approximately 8% over the next three years, eventually accounting for more than $6.3 billion by the end of 2028 as nationwide mission-critical deployments move from concept to delivery.