According to a new report by Swedish telecoms company Ericsson, 5G subscriptions are expected to exceed 1 billion by the end of 2022.
The company released their 2022 Ericsson Mobility report, with the key finding stating that over 1 billion devices will be subscribed to 5G by the end of the year. By 2027, the report says that 5G will account for 60% of all global mobile network traffic, and subscriptions will reach 4.4 billion.
5G has had the biggest uptake of any mobile network ever, thanks to the ever-growing dependence on smart devices and the expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT), of which 44% of devices use 4G or 5G. This is despite only a quarter of the world’s population having access to 5G networks at the time of the report’s publication.
By 2027, North America will hit 90% 5G penetration, with Western Europe following closely at 82%. India, a country that is yet to start rolling out 5G, will hit 40% penetration by then, reflecting the rapid rate at which the nations market is developing.