Ericsson predicted 5G subscriptions would reach 1 billion by end-2022, but the vendor emphasised the need to reduce the environmental impact of the increasing amount of data traffic.

In Q3 of 2022, 5G subscriptions grew by 98 million compared to Q3 of this year in which the number increased by 110 million.

There were around 550 million 5G subscriptions at the end of 2021.

In its latest Mobility Report, Ericsson stated 228 operators have commenced commercial 5G services globally while 35 have deployed or launched standalone (SA) in public networks.

North America and Northeast Asia are expected to have the highest 5G subscription penetration by the end of 2022 at around 35 per cent, followed by the Gulf Cooperation Council countries at 20 per cent and Western Europe at 11 per cent.

By 2028, North America will have the highest 5G penetration at 91 per cent followed by Western Europe at 88 per cent.

Ericsson predicted 5G mobile subscriptions would reach 5 billion by the end of 2028, 55 per cent of all mobile subscriptions.

Fixed wireless access connections will be about 300 million, with 5G driving almost 80 per cent of them.

It stated population coverage for mid-band 5G had reached 25 per cent globally, with the figure at 80 per cent in the US due in part to large-scale deployments by T-Mobile US.

Average data consumption per smartphone is forecast to exceed 19GB per month in 2023. Video is expected to account for 80 per cent of global mobile network traffic in 2028.

Fredrik Jejdling,EVP and head of business area Networks, noted in the report global mobile network data traffic was practically doubling every two years.

He stated data traffic needed to be managed with “smart network modernisation, combined with a balanced approach to network performance and use of energy-saving functionality to break the trend of increasing energy usage in mobile networks”.

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