Just over a year ago, we published in this blog an article explaining how and why we expect, over the next five years, a boom in 5G connectivity right across the globe, surpassing 1 billion 5G connections by 2025.

These are the estimates cited in the Ericsson Mobility Report 2018.

So, after one year, how have the forecasts changed for 5G market growth and penetration? Let’s dig a little deeper.

2.6 billion 5G connections by 2025

A year later, the Ericsson studies have had to revise their forecasts, raising the bar considerably.

Indeed, as we can read in the introduction to the Ericsson Mobility Report 2019:

By 2025, we expect 5G to have 2.6 billion subscriptions covering up to 65 percent of the world’s population and generating 45 percent of the world’s total mobile data traffic.

This is, simply put, a huge growth; just think that 2019 closed with just about 13 million subscriptions for 5G, compared to a total of 8 billion 4G subscriptions in 2019.

Ericsson has revised its forecasts undoubtedly due to the massive growth of this technology, related to the support and contribution given by an increasing number of device manufacturers.

So how is 5G technology used?

5G is not entirely destined for the mobile device market, i.e. tablets and smartphones, but has also many other practical uses.

According to the “Global 5G Infrastructure Market” report by BIS Research published in March 2019, 5G will reach the following application shares between 2020 and 2025:

It is particularly interesting to note the 5G penetration into the automotive sector, a consequence of connected vehicles and connection systems available on new models released into the marketplace.

Most growth will be seen in North America, Western Europe and North-East Asia

The Ericsson report is packed full of interesting data and forecasts, helpful in understanding the 5G phenomenon.

This graph, for example, shows growth forecasts for mobile subscriptions divided into geographical areas and technology.

As can be seen, three zones will experience exponential growth: North America, Western Europe and North-East Asia, which will surpass 50% by 2025.

From 0% to 55% in just 7 years

5G growth appears to be unstoppable. From 2018 to 2025 we are facing growth that appears to be more than a 9% year on year on a global scale.

As can be deduced from the graph above, we are looking at 55% - 65% coverage for the world’s population.

Conclusions

The data shown within the Ericsson 2019 report, which is confirmed by other trustworthy reports, highlight a particularly rosy future for 5G, and thus for all the players involved in this very important technological process.

We are pretty sure its development will change our way of living significantly, for the better. Let’s work and see!