#Africacom2015: Ericsson predicts over 150 million 5G subscriptions by end of 2021

By 2021, there is set to be over 150 million 5G subscriptions by end of 2021 and the uptake of 5G subscription is expecteed to be faster than 4G.

This is according to Ericsson’s Mobility report Q3 2015 launched on Tuesday 17th Novemebr 2015.

“5G is about more than faster mobile services – it will enable new use cases related to the Internet of Things. For example, Ericsson has built a prototype testbed for applying 5G networking functions and data analytics to public transport, which can save resources, reduce congestion, and lower environmental impact. ICT transformation will become even more common across industries as 5G moves from vision to reality in the coming years,” said Rima Qureshi, Senior Vice President & Chief Strategy Officer, Ericsson,

5G consists of new radio access an evolved LTE access and an enhanced core network and offers a wider range of services and will open up new industries and verticals. 5G networks based on standards that will meet ITU IMT-2020 requirements are expected to be deployed commercially in 2020.

Pre-standard and pre-commercial networks are expected to be launched earlier in selected markets. 5G subscriptions will provide enhancements in mobile broadband services as well as enable a wider range of use cases e.g for the Internet of Things.

Also, in 2021, South Korea, Japan, China, and the US are expected to have the fastest uptake of 5G subscriptions.

The report also revealed by 2016, the number of smartphones subscriptions will surpass those for basic phones. Smartphones make up the majority of mobile broadband devices today and subscriptions are expected to almost double by 2021. This is due to greater affordability in developing markets such as Asia Pacific, thee Middle East and Africa.

Mobile subscriptions will reach 7.7 billion globally by 2021 to account for an overwhelming share of all broadband subscriptions .
Mobile broadband will complement fixed broadband in some segments and will be the dominant mode of access in others.

Many PCs and tablets are used without a mobile subscriptions one reason being the price difference between Wi-Fi only models and those with mobile capabilities. Despite this the number of devices with mobile capabilities and a subscription will increase by 50% by 2021.

The report, a comprehensive update on mobile trends, reveals a significant increase in mobile video consumption, which is driving around six times higher traffic volumes per smartphone in North America and Europe (2015 to 2021). North America data traffic per active smartphone will grow from 3.8 to 22 GB per month by 2021; in Western Europe, the increase is from 2 to 18 GB per month.

With 20 new mobile broadband subscriptions activated every second, global increase in mobile subscriptions is another clear driver for data traffic growth. As of now, there are the same amount of mobile subscriptions as there are people on the planet