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North America and the Asia Pacific region will lead the way in 5G take up, with first services expected in 2019
There will be 1 billion mobile 5G connections by the year 2023, according a new report published by Ericsson.
The Ericsson Mobility Report suggests that 5G coverage will be available to 20% of the global population by the end of 2023. Mobile data traffic is expected to increase eightfold over the same period, reaching 110 Exabytes.
The move towards 5G will be expedited by a surge in demand for ultra-high definition video services and augmented reality experiences.
"The report examines the emergence of new use cases as network capabilities evolve – smartwatches, IoT alarms and augmented reality-assisted maintenance and repair, to name a few. As we prepare for 5G, these trends will continue to set the agenda for the mobile industry going forward," said Niklas Heuveldop, chief strategy officer at Ericsson.
Data consumption continues to grow across the planet, with North America experiencing the highest average data usage per smartphone at over 7GB per month. North America is expected to have the biggest take up of 5G, according to the report. By 2023, 37% of mobile Internet connections in the U.S. will be made over 5G networks, compared to just 17% in Western Europe.
The Asia-Pacific region is expected to lead the charge in rolling out its 5G networks, with customers in South Korea, Japan and China expecting to see 5G services as early as 2019.
The report also revealed that LTE technology will continue to play a huge role through 2023, with the vast majority of mobile internet connections being made over LTE networks. By the end of this year, LTE will dominate mobile access technology, with an estimated 5.5 billion connections across the globe. By 2023, LTE connections will account for 81% of all internet connections in Western Europe, compared with around 60% in North America.
