The report noted that the U.S., China, South Korea, India and Japan are the top five nations in terms of 5G revenues
Global 5G subscribers reached 1.7 billion at the end of the third quarter according to a report by Seattle-based strategic advisory firm Chetan Sharma Consulting.
The report noted that the global adoption of 5G is growing at twice the speed of 4G adoption.
“5G deployments have started gaining pace around the world. While there is a lot of noise, there is quite a bit of progress with real network launches, handset introductions, consumer adoption, new applications and services,” the firm noted in its Global 5G Update research.
“There are five countries leading the way – China, Korea, India, Japan and the U.S. 5G is a unique cycle. Operators need to be really strategic about how they deploy Capex and plan new revenue generation strategies. The structure of the wireless industry is likely to look quite different coming out of the 5G cycle than going in. There are early indications of how this might pan out but operators, regulators and the encompassing ecosystem needs to adjust to the new realities, fast,” the report added.
During the third quarter of 2024, the global subscriber base for 5G slowed down to 6% with China accounting for roughly 50% of the global subscriber base, stated Chetan Sharma Consulting.
It added that the U.S., China, South Korea, India and Japan are the top five nations in terms of 5G revenues. On a global basis, operators crossed the $100 billion mark in 5G revenues, the firm added.
Globally, China Mobile has the greatest number of 5G global subscribers, with over 850 million. “Korea, U.S., China and Japan are over 50% penetration. In Korea, 5G growth has slowed down, while the U.S. is also starting to see signs of saturation.”
“India is growing at the fastest rate having surpassed the U.S. to become number two in terms of 5G subscribers. Jio continues to be the number one operator by mobile data traffic thanks to the 5G surge. In fact, the top two Indian operators have been on the rise and are now amongst the only seven operators with valuation over $100 billion. The U.S. has three in this exclusive club, Europe and China one each. India also has the highest percentage ARPU jump in the 5G era,” the company added.
Global 5G subscriptions reached 2.1 billion at the end of the third quarter of the year, with an increase of 163 million during the quarter, according to the latest edition of the Ericsson Mobility Report.
Ericsson noted that this figure is expected to rise further, reaching nearly 2.3 billion by the end of the year, accounting for over 25% of all mobile subscriptions.
The vendor also highlighted that momentum behind 5G adoption remains strong, with projections now indicating that 5G will become the dominant mobile access technology by subscription by 2027, surpassing 4G a year earlier than initially expected.
This shift is driven largely by rapid growth in markets such as China and India. By 2030, global 5G subscriptions are forecast to hit 6.3 billion, representing 67% of all mobile subscriptions.
