Ericsson Forecasts a Billion 5G Subscriptions by 2023, Covering 20% of Population

Ericsson is forecasting a billion 5G subscriptions globally for enhanced mobile broadband by 2023, the company reported Tuesday. Having first been deployed in dense urban areas, 5G will cover more than 20 percent of the world’s population by the end of 2023, it said. The first commercial networks based on 5G New Radio are expected to go live in 2019, with “major deployments” from 2020 on, it said. Ericsson foresees the earliest 5G deployments taking place in the U.S., South Korea, Japan and China, it said. Also citing its report, the equipment maker said "mobile data traffic is expected to surge by eight times ... reaching 110 Exabytes per month by 2023. This corresponds to 5.5 million years of HD video streaming. All regions maintain mobile data traffic growth, with North America showing the highest average usage per smartphone, exceeding 7GB per month by the end of 2017." Fourth-generation LTE "momentum continues" and is expected to reach 5.5 billion subscribers by the end of 2023, out of 9.1 million total mobile subscriptions, it added. Also Tuesday, an FCC member spoke of the importance of 5G (see 1711280031).