New insights from Kaleido Intelligence show the growth in 5G adoption across the roaming landscape, tracking the progress of both standalone and non-standalone deployments globally. Kaleido’s latest forecasts predict more than 340 million 5G NSA and SA consumer roamers in 2026, with IoT 5G roaming connections predicted to reach 38 million.
Until now, 5G roaming has largely relied on NSA, using existing LTE cores to extend coverage globally with lower investment. That’s been enough to deliver broader availability and improved data performance, but it only goes so far.
The shift to 5G standalone is where things get more strategic. With cloud-native cores, operators can introduce capabilities like network slicing, stronger security, and service-level guarantees, essentially bringing the domestic 5G experience into roaming.
This is why 2026 stands out as a turning point. Most operators will already have NSA roaming in place, but a growing number are preparing to launch commercial 5G SA roaming between 2026 and 2027. Right now, the focus is on testing, validating frameworks, and proving that these services can scale. Once that’s in place, broader adoption will follow, with smaller operators joining as the model matures.
Market Status Snapshot
190+ MNOs investing in 5G SA domestic networks
Around 90 5G SA full commercial domestic launches tracked by Kaleido, across 45+ countries.
5G SA roaming trials completed in 15+ country markets
5G NSA roaming services are available in over 130 international markets, provided by over 200 operators
Survey, Q4 2025: At least 25 MNOs intend to launch commercial 5G SA roaming services in 2026.
Deployments appear to be driven by a range of motivations, chief among them being demand for enterprise use cases, and for new roaming business models based around developments like BCE.
Kaleido’s 5G Roaming Market Outlook & MNO Roadmap covers the status of the 5G roaming market, with a focus on the second half of 2025, coming into 2026. This market update covers 5G network launches, investments, and global deployments alongside active roamer figures for 2025.
The insights also cover the technical requirements of transitioning to 5G SA roaming – covering IPX, signalling, analytics, QoS and NSA to SA migration. 5G roaming use cases are also explored, including expected revenue drivers and industry segments with high potential.
Main Drivers for 5G Roaming Deployment Among Survey Participants
Kaleido’s 5G Roaming Survey conducted in H2 2025 provides valuable insights around the experiences and realities faced by operators from around the globe.
Kaleido’s latest 5G Roaming 2026 report analyses survey responses, analysing emerging trends in the market and amongst operator behaviour to deliver a comprehensive view into the 5G roaming landscape at a time where 5G SA domestic uptake is uneven and many are unsure of the return on investment, making market awareness and understanding more crucial than ever. Kaleido Intelligence surveyed around 70 unique tier-1 and tier-2 MNOs around the world on their 5G SA and NSA roaming implementation strategies, with a key focus on commercial launches, deployment outlook, as well as immediate technical requirements and commercial strategies during Q4 2025
5G NSA Roaming Available in 130+ Countries Through 200+ Operators, 5G SA Roaming Expected in 2026
As 5G continues to grow in prevalence and finally begins to enter the world of roaming, adoption and deployment gather pace – over 130 country and territory markets now have 5G NSA roaming availability through over 200 operators, marking a widespread level of partial preparedness for the transition to standalone.
5G Outbound & Inbound Roaming Availability (5G NSA), March 2026
While many tier-1 operators are approaching technical and commercial readiness, large-scale launch will only be possible once security, interworking, assurance, and commercial frameworks are aligned across partners. This report details the comprehensive array of requirements as well as the number of challenges faced by operators attempting deployment of 5G SA roaming. More than 80% of operators taking part in Kaleido’s 5G roaming survey indicated that testing new roaming network functions is an immediate or near-term requirement, covering SEPP, HTTP/2, policy control, charging, and security functions.
Kaleido 5G Roaming Market Outlook & MNO Roadmap 2026:
Key Findings:
Over a third of operators not planning to launch 5G SA roaming do not see sufficient business cases for roaming-specific standalone investment
Roaming partner readiness for BCE is the most widespread challenge in 5G SA roaming deployments.
More than 60% of respondents highlighted the need for real-time analytics to monitor network integrity and customer experience, alongside requirements for SLA and QoS assurance, robust interconnect security, and sufficient IPX capacity to support high-bandwidth services
SEPP deployment strategies remain evenly split, with no dominant model emerging and many operators still in a wait-and-see phase as they build understanding through trials and early deployments.
Access Kaleido’s 5G Roaming Market Outlook & MNO Roadmap 2026 for an overview of the 5G (NSA and SA) roaming market landscape and a detailed look at factors driving deployment behaviours, alongside our global forecast for 5G consumer and IoT roaming revenues up to and including 2030.
Steffen Sorrell, Chief of Research
Access Kaleido’s 5G Roaming Market Outlook & MNO Roadmap 2026 for an overview of the 5G (NSA and SA) roaming market landscape and a detailed look at factors driving deployment behaviours, alongside our global forecast for 5G consumer and IoT roaming revenues up to and including 2030
