By Kester Omu
A new report by Ericsson Mobility has disclosed that there will be 1 billion 5G subscriptions by 2023, providing enhanced mobile broadband.
The report, released yesterday noted that 1 billion subscriptions will represent 20 percent of the world’s population, adding that first commercial networks based on 5G New Radio (NR) are expected to go live in 2019, with major deployments from 2020.
Early 5G deployments are foreseen in several markets, including the US, South Korea, Japan and China.
This means, global mobile data traffic will surpass 100 Exabytes per month in 2023, corresponding to 5.5 million years of HD video streaming.
The report also claimed that video consumption will continue to fuel mobile broadband traffic growth. The driving force behind video’s uptrend are the young millennials – those in the 15 to 24 age bracket – who stream 2.5X more than those over 45 years of age.
“Streaming video in higher resolutions and an emerging trend of increased streaming of immersive video formats, such as 360-degree video, will have an impact on data traffic consumption volumes. For example, a YouTube 360-degree video uses 4 to 5 times as much bandwidth as a normal YouTube video of the same perceived quality,” Niklas Heuveldop, Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Technology and Emerging Business, Ericsson says.
He said the latest report highlights trends in mobile subscription and data traffic growth, as well as the industry’s effort to tackle the increasing demands on mobile networks globally.