There will be almost 2bn 5G subscriptions by 2024
- Tuesday, June 11th, 2019
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Faster than expected uptake of 5G has led to telecoms firm Ericsson predicting that there will be 1.9bn 5G subscriptions globally by the end of 2024, an increase of 400m on its previous forecast.
The speed at which mobile network providers are introducing 5G around the world means coverage is set to reach 45 per cent of the world’s population by 2024. However, this could leap to 65 per cent with spectrum sharing technology enabling 5G deployments on LTE frequency bands.
Among consumers, it’s predicted that North America will have the fastest uptake of 5G subscriptions, with 63 per cent of mobile subscriptions in the region being for 5G in five years’ time. North East Asia will follow with 47 per cent and Europe with 40 per cent.
“5G is definitely taking off and at a rapid pace. This reflects the service providers’ and consumers’ enthusiasm for the technology,” said Fredrik Jejdling, executive vice president and head of networks at Ericsson. “5G will have positive impact on people’s lives and businesses, realising gains beyond the IoT and the Fourth Industrial Revolution. However, the full benefits of 5G can only be reaped with the establishment of a solid ecosystem in which technology, regulatory, security, and industry partners all have a part to play.”
5G will also play a part in the rapidly increasingly amount of mobile data traffic – which grew 82 per cent year-on-year in Q1 2019. By 2024, it is expected to reach 131EB per month, with 35 per cent coming over 5G networks.
The next generation mobile network technology will also help drive cellular internet of things (IoT) connections up from the current 1bn to 4.1bn by the end of 2024.