2023-06-21 21:49:22
With regard to the spread of the modern 5G mobile communications standard, Europe is currently lagging behind in a global comparison, but will quickly catch up and overtake in this decade. This emerges from the Mobility Report published by the network provider Ericsson on Wednesday, a study published at regular intervals on the development of the global mobile communications market.
According to the Swedes’ forecasts, the number of 5G mobile subscriptions around the world is expected to reach 1.5 billion by the end of 2023. At the end of last year, there were one billion contracts. Even the weak smartphone business over the past year has not been able to stop the switch to 5G, as the report points out. The development shows that users and providers benefit equally from 5G, summed up Ericsson’s network boss Fredrik Jejdling.
The new mobile communications standard is already quite widespread, especially in North America. According to the study, 41 percent of all mobile phone contracts there at the end of 2022 were 5G contracts. Northeast Asia also leads with a rate of 30 percent, followed by the Gulf Cooperation Council region with 18 percent. Western Europe has a 5G share of 13 percent.
88 percent market penetration in five years
The 5 G is clearly below and not very developed in the Middle East and Africa, in Southeast Asia and Oceania, in Central and Eastern Europe and in Latin America. According to the data, India also has some catching up to do. However, the subcontinent is likely to develop into the fastest growing 5G region of all. The number of 5G subscriptions in the country of 1.4 billion people reached just about 10 million by the end of 2022. By the end of 2028, however, 5G mobile subscriptions will reach an estimated 57 percent.
Experts also expect very strong growth for Western Europe. They expect a market penetration of 88 percent within five years. This would involve a change in the top positions: North America should then come to 91 percent, the Gulf region to 86 percent and Northeast Asia to 71 percent. Despite geopolitical challenges and macroeconomic slowdowns in some markets, 5G business is generally expected to continue growing.
Older technology on the retreat
The fifth generation of mobile communications (5G) offers significantly higher data transmission rates than the previous 3G/UMTS and 4G/LTE standards. In addition, the latency, i.e. the delay time in data transport, is lower, so that 5G can also be used for real-time applications such as controlling machines remotely or for telemedicine applications. 5G technology is also better suited than its predecessors to bring large crowds onto the Internet, such as all visitors to a football stadium.
In fact, the older technology is on the decline. Ericsson expects 3G networks to be phased out in order to have more radio spectrum available for 4G and 5G. The bottom line is that 2028 is likely to be the year that 5G emerges as the dominant mobile access technology. The Mobility Report then calculates that there are 4.6 billion mobile phone contracts in the world, which would be more than 50 percent for the first time. 4 G alias LTE, on the other hand, will soon be phased out. From a peak of 5.2 billion subscriptions this year, there are expected to be just 3.8 billion 4G subscriptions in five years as more and more cellphone owners switch to 5G.
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The changeover to the new and fast technology is probably also due to the fact that mobile phone users’ thirst for data continues to rise sharply, promoted among other things by the trend towards video streaming on the go. Global data traffic via mobile communications has almost doubled in just two years. Most recently, the annual growth rates were between 40 and 60 percent. No question: In the future, every smartphone owner will need significantly more cell phone data volume than today.
Many applications and apps still work very well with the 4G standard today. However, the spread of 5G is currently mainly associated with the needs of professional customers, while private customers are following suit. This is also shown by looking at history. From 2G to 3G and 4G to 5G: a new generation of mobile communications has been rolled out roughly every decade. It shouldn’t be any different this time either – until 6 G then replaces 5 G in the 2030s.
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