5G SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR enhanced mobile broadband will top 1 billion by 2023, according to a new report by Ericsson.
The latest edition of the Ericsson Mobility Report says that 5G will cover more than 20% of the global population six years from now, deployed first in dense urban areas. The first commercial networks based on 5G New Radio (NR) are expected to go live in 2019, with major deployments from 2020. Early 5G deployments are foreseen in several markets, including the U.S., South Korea, Japan and China.
The report also predicts that mobile data traffic will surge by eight times during the forecast period, reaching 110 Exabytes per month by 2023. All regions maintain mobile data traffic growth, with North America showing the highest average usage per smartphone, exceeding 7GB per month by the end of 2017.
Video consumption continues to fuel mobile broadband traffic growth. The driving force behind video’s uptrend are the young millennials – those in the 15 to 24 age bracket – who stream 2.5X more than those over 45 years of age, continues the report. Streaming video in higher resolutions and an emerging trend of increased streaming of immersive video formats, such as 360-degree video, will have an impact on data traffic consumption volumes.
By the end of this year, LTE will be the dominant mobile access technology. It is estimated to reach 5.5 billion subscriptions and cover more than 85% of the world’s population by the end of 2023.
Voice over LTE (VoLTE) has been launched in more than 125 networks in over 60 countries across all regions, the report adds. VoLTE subscriptions are projected to reach 5.5 billion by the end of 2023, accounting for more than 80% of the combined LTE and 5G subscriptions.
