GSMA Intelligence predicts that by 2030, the number of 5G connections worldwide will surge to 5.5 billion, accounting for 51 percent of all mobile connections.
According to the London-based research firm’s report Mobile Economy 2024, 5G will be the fastest mobile generation deployment ever, reaching over 1 billion connections by the end of 2022 and rising to 1.6 billion connections by the end of 2023. It became clear that it would.
GSMAi said that as of January 2024, 261 carriers in 101 countries have launched commercial 5G services, and more than 90 carriers in 64 markets are working on deployment.
Of the 261 commercial 5G services available, 47 are provided by 5G standalone (SA) networks, with a further 89 leveraging network slicing, ultra-reliable and low-latency communication support, and simplified 5G SA networks. A rollout is planned in the near future. architecture.
This report shows that the expansion of available 5G SA networks and improved support for private and dedicated networks will support vast numbers of connected devices and help businesses realize their global IoT vision.
According to GSMAi data, there are currently 10.7 billion IoT connections in the enterprise sector (compared to 10.5 billion consumer connections).
According to the research firm, this momentum is expected to continue, with enterprise connections more than doubling to 38.5 billion by 2030, with smart buildings and smart manufacturing each accounting for 34% of total enterprise connections. and account for 16%.
More than half of carriers will begin deploying 5G-Advanced within one year of the 5G-Advanced solution’s commercial availability, driven by priority use cases such as 5G multicast services and low-cost IoT support, according to the report. He says he expects that to happen.
Peter Jarich, Head of GSMAi, said: “The early success of 5G was driven by enhanced mobile broadband (EMBB) and EMBB-related network traffic requirements. But while consumer demand will continue, we are now moving beyond that. We are seeing many use cases.
“Opportunities are now emerging in areas such as API monetization and 5G RedCap for enterprise IoT, all supported by 5G-Advanced and 5G SA networks. It delivers on the early promise of 5G when it can meet the associated slicing, low latency, and large-scale IoT capabilities. 5G-Advanced only extends that further.”
GSMAi predicts that mobile data traffic will increase fourfold between now and 2030, with expanding 5G coverage and capacity playing a key role, highlighting the importance of continued infrastructure investment. Masu.
The report predicts that global monthly mobile data traffic per connection will increase from 12.8 GB in 2023 to 47.9 GB in 2030.
Regarding the increased use of Generative AI, 56% of operators are currently testing applications that could drive this growth.
This will be driven by applications such as the use of GenAI-enabled chatbots for customer service activities and the continued growth of AI-generated video and music content, the report said.
“New use cases will create new revenue streams for carriers, resulting in a new focus on billing for 5G services. As more 5G SA networks become available, advanced network New billing standards are now needed to support service deployment and the flexible billing process that the 5G SA core provides.”
