5G breaks barriers in 2022
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Editor
| 30 December 2022
A year-end round-up by Strategy Analytics has highlighted the robust growth of 5G mobile infrastructures over the course of the last twelve months, with 5G users increasing from 819 million in June to 924 million in September and passing a billion in the last 4-5 weeks.
5G STrategy Analytics 30Dec2022
The study noted that momentum for 5G continues to build with 5G networks set to cover 36% of the world’s population by the end of December 2022 and 5G phones are closing in on a tipping point, accounting for half of all phones sold.

Looking regionally, Strategy Analytics found Asia to be the 5G hot bed. In China, there were 524 million 5G users in October 2022, up 48% since the start of the year and accounting for 31% of all connections. In Hong Kong, HKT increased 5G’s share of its post-paid base from 20% in December 2021 to 28% this July, with it attributing the increase in mobile service revenue to 5G adoption. In South Korea, 5G accounted for 35% of all mobile connections in October and those connections accounted for 74% of mobile data traffic, up from 60% a year earlier). Strategy Analytics estimates 5G ARPU was 64% higher than 4G ARPU in Q3.

In the US, 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) accounted for almost all broadband net adds in the US in Q3T-Mobile leads on 5G FWA (with over 2 million total FWA customers in September, the majority on 5G) though Verizon is now also making strong progress (over one million customers).

Going forward, Strategy Analytics expects continued strong 5G progress globally in 2023 with new Indian 5G services providing an extra volume contribution to Asia-Pacific growth next year, while more operators in Latin America following the lead set by Brazil and Chile and scaling up 5G services there.

The company concluded that it is lining up to be an exciting year for 5G as that foundation of strong subscriber growth is supplemented with wider deployment of 5G Standalone services and the new advanced network service opportunities that these offer to operators for both vertical solutions and more advanced consumer applications.