Stronger than expected 5G adoption in North America, Ericsson report says
Ericsson’s new Mobility Report outlines 5G’s continued expansion, as well as the growth of related revenues—and particularly strong uptake of the technology in North America.
Around 240 5G networks have been launched around the world, by Ericsson’s count, and more than 100 are offering 5G Fixed Wireless Access. 5G subscriptions are expected to reach 1.5 billion this year on a global basis, and around 125 million 5G subscriptions were added just in the first quarter of the year, Ericsson reported.
In the top 20 5G markets, the vendor said, “service providers … have enjoyed growing revenue that correlates with growing subscription penetration.” When 5G service is launched, it correlates with service revenue growth of about 3.5% over the past two years, or 7% total, the report said, adding that rather than reactive, inflation-related cost increases, “The launch of 5G services has enabled service providers to proactively drive a shift to higher mobile tariffs, while adding value for consumers.”
Ericsson said that North America had the highest 5G penetration at 41%, followed by North East Asia penetration of 30%. Western European penetration was at only 13%. By 2028 (when 5G is expected to be the dominant network technology), the vendor projects that North America will still have the highest 5G penetration at 91%, but Western Europe will be at 88%. China, meanwhile, leads in 5G scale and had rapidly launched 5G Standalone, with a reported 95% of 5G traffic being carried by 5G SA.
In its description of the U.S. 5G landscape, Ericsson’s report said: “The addition of mid-band spectrum now enables superior multi-band 5G experiences for many users. In 2023, 5G adoption is continuing to grow strongly, with more than 250 million subscriptions expected by the year’s end.” It went on to say that FWA “has become the primary
technology fueling fixed broadband growth in North America.” Later in the report, Ericsson notes that “North America stands out as the region in which all of the service
providers studied have an FWA offering.”
The report also goes on to say that a weaker smartphone market isn’t slowing the grwoth of 5G, particularly not with the adoption of 5G FWA and increases in 4G/5G IoT connections. Ericsson said that as of last year, broadband IoT (4G/5G) reached 1.3 billion connections, and “is the technology that connects the largest share of all cellular IoT devices.”
Read more details from the Ericsson Mobility Report here.
