5G Subs Growing at Record Pace: Ericsson Mobility Report

 By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Towers Technology Editor DISH’s 5G network is in its early days, AT&T and Verizon won’t have mid-band spectrum built out until 2023, T-Mobile is going great guns at low-band and mid-band but its millimeter wave coverage -- the icing on the spectrum layer cake -- is thin. Still, Ericsson projects that 5G mobile subscriptions are growing at a record pace and will exceed 580 million globally by the end of 2021, driven by an estimated one million new 5G mobile subscriptions every day.

The forecast in the latest Ericsson Mobility Report projects 5G will be the fastest adopted mobile generation in history with 3.5 billion subscriptions and 60 percent population coverage by the end of 2026. That said, the pace of adoption varies widely by region, with China, North America and the Middle East leading the way. Europe is lagging. Northeast Asia is expected to account for the largest share of 5G subscriptions by 2026, with an estimated 1.4 billion 5G subscriptions.

“5G is expected to surpass a billion subscriptions two years ahead of the 4G LTE timeline for the same milestone,” the report said. “Key factors behind that include China’s earlier commitment to 5G and the earlier availability and increasing affordability of commercial 5G devices.” The number of 5G smartphones currently tops 300. Continue Reading