The latest edition of the Ericsson Mobility Report has a lot of good news for 5G. The vendor found that worldwide there will be 1 billion 5G subscriptions by the end of this year and 5 billion by the end of 2028. Almost 80% of the world’s 300 million fixed wireless access (FWA) subscriptions will be 5G.
The report found that North America has reached the second wave of build-outs and user adoption. North America will have 5G subscription penetration of 35% at the end of the year, tied with northeast Asia for the highest globally.
In North America last year, 35% of mobile connections were 5G, 61% were LTE and 4% were CDMA or HSPA. The picture will be simpler in 2028: Ericsson expects 91% of subscribers to use 5G and 9% to use LTE.
Ericsson’s take on the North American mobile market:
“The addition of mid-band spectrum now enables superior multi-band 5G experiences for many users. In 2022, 5G adoption continued to grow strongly, with more than 140 million subscriptions expected by the year-end,” the report notes. “High-speed internet access to homes and small businesses with Fixed Wireless Access has become the primary technology fueling fixed broadband growth in North America. 5G is also growing in the enterprise segment with wireless WAN to branch office locations and to serve ultra-mobile professions. By 2028, around 420 million 5G subscriptions are expected, accounting for over 90 percent of mobile subscriptions.”
Other noteworthy data from the report:
- In 2028, mobile 5G subscriptions worldwide will reach 5 billion, accounting for 55 percent of all mobile subscriptions
- 5G mid-band population coverage has reached 25 percent population coverage globally, and 80 percent coverage in the US
- 5G subscription uptake has been faster than that of 4G, with 5G expected to reach 1 billion subscriptions 2 years sooner than 4G did
- 228 service providers have already launched commercial 5G services globally
- Average data consumption per smartphone is forecast to exceed 19 GB per month in 2023
- In 2028, FWA connections will reach 300 million, where 5G will account for almost 80 percent of FWA connections
