Ericsson forecasts 1.5bn 5G subscriptions and 40pc coverage worldwide by 2024

Thirty per cent of the population of Western Europe is expected to receive 5G coverage in five years

Ericsson has predicted that 5G subscriptions will hit 1.5 billion globally by 2024.

In its latest Mobility Report, the mobile infrastructure provider also forecast that 5G would be available to 40 per cent of the worldwide population by 2024, making it the fastest generation of cellular technology to be rolled out.

According to the report, 30 per cent of mobile subscriptions in Western Europe are expected to be 5G by then. North America and North East Asia are predicted to lead the charge, with penetration rates of 55 per cent and 43 per cent of mobile subscriptions in the regions respectively.

Ericsson has also earmarked IoT as a reason for the rapid rollout. The Mobility Report estimates that 4.1 billion IoT devices will be active on a cellular network by 2024 and that well over half of those (2.7 billion connections) will be in North East Asia.

Ericsson executive vice president and head of business area networks Fredrik Jejdling said: “As 5G now hits the market, its coverage buildout and uptake in subscriptions are projected to be faster than for previous generations. At the same time, cellular IoT continues to grow strongly. What we are seeing is the start of fundamental changes that will impact not just the consumer market but many industries.”

Data Rise

The report also found that data usage in the third quarter of this year grew almost 79 per cent year-on-year, the highest growth in five years.

The increase has comes as a result of growth in data traffic per smartphone in North East Asia, rising 140 per cent between 2017 and 2018, much of this driven by China. As a result, North East Asia’s average usage per month stands at 7.3GB, the second-highest among the world’s regions.

North America still has the highest data traffic per smartphone at 8.6GB per month.