The global telecommunication industry is entering a critical new phase as operators move beyond 5G coverage and begin prioritising the deployment of 5G Standalone (5G SA) capabilities.
A new report by Ookla and Omdia reveals that the momentum behind 5G SA is accelerating, driven by rising business demand and the increasing need for cloud-native networks.
While the ‘coverage gap’ between major regions had narrowed by the end of last year, a more significant ‘capability gap’ has emerged as markets adopt full 5G SA functionality at different speeds.
Globally, 5G SA availability, reached 17.6 % in Q4 2025, up from 16.2 % a year earlier, indicating that roughly one in six 5G speed tests globally now happen on a standalone network.
The global median SA download speed also grew to 269.51Mbps, representing a 52 % increase over non-standalone 5G. Ookla warned that this figure hides significant regional differences due to factors such as spectrum depth, carrier aggregation maturity and user-plane engineering.
Regionally, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have positioned themselves as the leaders in global 5G SA performance, with the UAE setting the speed benchmark. Media download speeds in this region are now five times higher than those in Europe.
Kadams Radhakrishnan Chief Technical Director at Lyca Mobile, commented: “The transition from non-standalone 5G to full 5G Standalone represents a structural reset for our industry. We are moving from a model focused primarily on coverage and speed to one defined by capability, programmability and performance assurance.
For MVNOs, this is both an opportunity and a moment of urgency. Historically, virtual operators have competed on price, brand affinity and customer service. 5G SA changes that equation. With a cloud-native core, lower latency and network slicing, connectivity becomes something that can be shaped around specific use cases. That opens the door for MVNOs to specialise in vertical markets such as healthcare, logistics, gaming or media production, offering tailored connectivity solutions rather than generic data plans.
However, access to these capabilities is not automatic. Many wholesale agreements still provide enhanced radio access without exposing the full standalone core functions. If MVNOs do not actively renegotiate and engage with host operators as they roll out SA, they risk being left selling ‘5G’ in name only, without the low latency guarantees and slicing features that define the next phase of the technology.
5G Standalone is not simply a faster network, it is a programmable platform. For MVNOs, the question is whether we remain resellers of bandwidth or evolve into orchestrators of digital services built on top of that platform. The operators that move early, build the right partnerships and align their device and service strategies with SA capabilities will not only survive this transition, but they will also help define the next chapter of mobile connectivity.”
The report highlights that four markets account for most European SA connections, Austria (8.7 % of all 5G), Spain (8.3% ), the UK (7 %) and France (5.9 %). The UK and France recorded the strongest year-on-year acceleration in Europe, each increasing their share of SA by 5.3 percentage points
The findings also show that countries with coordinated regulatory frameworks such as coverage obligations, investment incentives or infrastructure sharing policies, perform far better than those with fragmented or reactive approaches.
This supports the idea that policy has become a key competitive advantage in global 5G SA results.
This shift marks a significant turning point for operators as the industry moves from simply expanding 5G availability to enabling the advanced capabilities required for next-generation services.
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