Telecommmunications giant Ericsson forecasts that there would be 1.9 billion 5G subscriptions globally by the end of 2024.
Fredrik Jejdling, Executive Vice President and Head of Networks, who made this known in the mobility report released by the company for June 2019, said that there was an increase of about 27 per cent from November 2018 report which was 1.5 billion.
He noted that other forecasts have also increased notably as a result of the rapid 5G uptake.
“5G coverage is forecast to reach 45 percent of the world’s population by end of 2024. This could surge to 65 percent, as spectrum sharing technology enables 5G deployments on Long Term Evolution(LTE) frequency bands.
“Communication service providers in several markets have switched on 5G following the launch of 5G-compatible smartphones.
“Service providers in some markets are also setting more ambitious targets for population coverage of up to 90 percent within the first year,” he said.
Ssmartphones for all main spectrum bands are slated to hit the market over the course of this year.
Jejdling said that as 5G devices increasingly become available, more than 10 million 5G subscriptions are projected worldwide by the end of 2019.
The uptake of 5G subscriptions is expected to be fastest in North America, with 63 percent of anticipated mobile subscriptions in the region being for 5G in 2024.
The report also projects that the total mobile data traffic continued to soar globally in Q1 2019, up 82 percent year-on-year.