Strategy Analytics today reported that 5G is a major contributor to improved carrier performance this year. 5G users increased from 819 million in June to 924 million in September and exceeded 1 billion in the past 4-5 weeks. Global 5G momentum continues to build.
The report notes that by the end of this month, 5G networks will cover 36% of the world’s population and 5G phones will soon account for half of the global handset sales.
Strategy Analytics expects global 5G to continue to grow strongly in 2023. With India’s 5G service going live last month, that market will make an additional contribution to growth in Asia Pacific next year, while more operators in Latin America will follow the lead of Brazil and Chile and expand 5G service.
According to the report, this will be an exciting year for 5G, as the foundation for strong subscriber growth is coupled with wider deployment of 5G standalone services and these new advanced network service opportunities for operators with vertical solutions and more advanced consumer applications.
Data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) shows that the total number of cell phone subscribers of China’s three basic telecommunications companies reached 1.684 billion at the end of November. Of these, 5G cell phone subscribers reached 542 million, accounting for 32.2% of cell phone subscribers.
