The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has established itself as the world leader in 5G SA performance. Operators e& and du drove the region’s median download speeds to 1.13 Gbps in Q4 2025, nearly five times the European median of 205 Mbps. The UAE alone hit 1.24 Gbps, a figure rivalled only by full-fibre broadband in developed markets.
High performance reflects the deployment of four-carrier aggregation, enhanced MIMO technology and premium mid-band spectrum dedicated to SA networks.
Globally, 5G SA availability reached 17.6 per cent of Speedtest samples by the end of 2025, up from 16.2% the previous year, meaning roughly one in six 5G Speedtests worldwide now uses a standalone network.
The global median download speed of 269.51Mbps represents a 52% premium over non-standalone networks, though regional variation remains pronounced due to spectrum allocation, carrier aggregation and user-plane engineering.
The US has completed nationwide SA deployment across all Tier-1 operators, lifting median speeds to 404 Mbps. Europe’s rollout is accelerating, but from a low base, with Austria (8.7%), Spain (8.3%), the UK (7%) and France (5.9%) accounting for most connections. Despite doubling its sample share year-on-year, Europe still trails North America by 27 percentage points.
Beyond headline speeds, the report examines end-to-end network optimisation. European SA networks deliver a 45% download speed premium over NSA, while cloud and gaming latency varies by country, with France (41ms), Austria (48ms) and Finland (50ms) showing strong performance where backbone quality, fibre depth and routing discipline are robust.
Standalone SA also delivers consumer benefits. In the UK, EE devices recorded median battery life gains of 22% over NSA, while O2 devices saw an 11% improvement, largely due to SA’s unified control plane eliminating dual-connectivity overhead.
Investment in 5G core networks continues to accelerate. Omdia forecasts global 5G core software spending will grow at 8.8% CAGR to 2030, with EMEA leading at 16.7%. By Q3 2025, 83 operators worldwide had deployed 5G core networks, with core software accounting for 63.6% of global core network spend.
Monetisation strategies are expanding from speed tiers and network slicing in Europe and the US to 5G Advanced segmentation in China. Early enterprise slicing services, such as T-Mobile’s SuperMobile, highlight the commercial potential of SA networks.
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