By 2023, more than 20 percent of mobile data traffic worldwide is expected to be carried by 5G networks, according to the latest of Ericsson’s semi-annual mobility reports. The 5G figure will in fact be 1.5 times more than the overall 4G/3G/2G traffic today since the total data amount is estimated to surge by eight times from 2018 to 2023 period to reach close to 107 exabytes (EB) per month, said the report. Ericsson previously forecast over 1 billion 5G subscriptions for enhanced mobile broadband by the end of 2023, accounting for around 12 percent of all mobile subscriptions.
In terms of regions, the report predicts that North America will lead the 5G uptake since all major US operators have announced plans to roll out 5G between late 2018 and mid-2019. By the end of 2023, close to 50 percent of all mobile subscriptions in North America are set to be for 5G, followed by North East Asia at 34 percent and Western Europe at 21 percent.
Turning to the Internet of Things, Ericsson said IoT connections have nearly doubled since November 2017 and are now expected to reach an estimated 3.5 billion in 2023, driven by ongoing large-scale deployments in China. New massive IoT cellular technologies such as NB-IoT and Cat-M1 are fuelling the growth, with mobile operators having already launched more than 60 cellular IoT networks worldwide using these technologies over the same underlying LTE network.
