More than 30 countries will begin 5G rollouts during 2023, heralding a second wave of 5G and potentially doubling the number of 5G connections over the next 24 months, and confirming 5G as the fastest generational roll-out, when compared to 3G and 4G.
At Mobile World Congress 2023 in Barcelona, GSMA Intelligence reported:
- As of January 2023, there were 229 commercial 5G networks globally and over 700 5G smartphone models available to users.
- Growth will also come from key markets within APAC and LATAM, such as Brazil and India, which have recently launched 5G networks. India will be especially significant, with the expansion of services from Airtel and Jio in 2023 expected to be pivotal to the region's ongoing adoption.
- There will be four 5G networks in India by the end of 2025, accounting for 145 million additional users.
- 5G adoption in the sub-Saharan region sits below 1% but will reach over 4% by 2025 and 16% in 2030, largely thanks to a concerted effort from industry and government organisations to provide connectivity to citizens.
- As of January 2023, more than 90 fixed broadband service providers (the vast majority of which are mobile operators) had launched commercial 5G-based fixed wireless services across over 48 countries. This means around 40% of 5G commercial mobile launches worldwide currently include an FWA offering.
- In the US, T-Mobile added over half a million 5G FWA customers in Q4 2021 and Q1 2022 combined. By 2025, it expects to have eight million FWA subscribers, while Verizon is targeting five million FWA subscribers for the same period. And, with operators such as Jio announcing ambitions to connect as many as 100 million homes across India to its 5G FWA network, the number of FWA users looks likely to grow substantially over the next few years.
- Only 7% of 5G launches have been in 5G mmWave spectrum so far but this looks set to change given 27% of spectrum allocations and 35% of trials are already using 5G mmWave bands. Furthermore, in 2023 alone, the industry will see ten more countries assigned 5G mmWave spectrum for use – a significant increase from the 22 countries who have been assigned it to date. Spain received the first European 5G mmWave spectrum allocation this year, resulting in Telefónica, Ericsson and Qualcomm launching its first commercial 5G mmWave network at MWC Barcelona 2023.
"Until now, 5G adoption has been driven by relatively mature markets and consumer use cases like enhanced mobile broadband, but that's changing. We're now entering a second wave for 5G that will see the technology engage a diverse set of new markets and audiences," said Peter Jarich, Head of GSMA Intelligence. "The extension to new use cases and markets will challenge the mobile ecosystem to prove that 5G truly is flexible enough to meet these diverse demands in a way that's both inclusive and innovative."
