Nine out of ten subscribers in North America are anticipated to be 5G by 2027, placing North America in the top spot globally for 5G subscription penetration. The forecast is contained in the most recent Ericsson Mobility Report, which also projects that by the end of 2022, there will be one billion 5G subscriptions worldwide.
According to predictions made for 2027, 5G will account for:
- 82 percent of subscriptions in Western Europe
- 80 percent in the Gulf Cooperation Council region and
- 74 percent in North-East Asia.
In India, where 5G deployments have yet to begin, 5G is expected to make up nearly 40 percent of all subscriptions by 2027. By this time, 5G is forecast to account for almost half of all global subscriptions, topping 4.4 billion subscriptions.
The latest Ericsson Mobility Report – the 22nd edition of the company’s network traffic insights and forecasts – also shows that global mobile network data traffic doubled in the last two years.
Increased smartphone and mobile broadband usage, as well as the digitalization of society and industries, were the main drivers of this traffic surge. Despite the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic and geopolitical uncertainty, new figures and forecasts highlight the significant demand for data connectivity and digital services. Every year, several hundred million people are becoming new mobile broadband subscribers.
Fredrik Jejdling, Executive Vice President and Head of Networks, Ericsson, says: “The latest Ericsson Mobility Report confirms 5G as the fastest growing mobile technology generation ever, and Ericsson is playing a key role in making it happen. We work every day with our customers and ecosystem partners around the world to ensure that millions more people, enterprises, industries, and societies enjoy the benefits of 5G connectivity as soon as possible.”
Peter Jonsson, Executive Editor, Ericsson Mobility Report, Ericsson, claims that the “deployment of 5G standalone (SA) networks is increasing in many regions as communications service providers (CSPs) gear up for innovation to address business opportunities beyond enhanced mobile broadband. A solid digital network infrastructure underpins enterprises’ digital transformation plans, and their new capabilities can be turned into new customer services.”
The research also emphasizes the growing significance of Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) in the provision of broadband services. According to Ericsson, there will be over 100 million FWA connections in 2022, and by 2027, that number is expected to have more than doubled to about 230 million.
On the Internet of Things (IoT) front, the report notes that in 2021, broadband IoT (4G/5G) overtook 2G and 3G as the technology that connects the largest share of all cellular IoT-connected devices, accounting for 44 percent of all connections.
Nearly 330 million connections were made using massive IoT technologies (NB-IoT, Cat-M) in 2021, which is an increase of nearly 80%. In 2023, it’s anticipated that these technologies will connect more IoT devices than 2G and 3G combined.
The June 2022 Ericsson Mobility Report further confirms Omdia’s analysis from just a month ago. One thing is for sure: 5G is here to stay.
