By that time, the report’s authors predict that close to 50 per cent of all mobile subscriptions in North America will be for 5G, followed by North East Asia at 34 per cent, and Western Europe at 21 per cent.
Ericsson also forecasts that cellular IoT connections, which have nearly doubled since November 2017, will rise to 3.5 billion in 2023, driven by ongoing large-scale deployments in China. It notes that the main use cases are centred on logistics and fleet management in the US and smart cities and smart agriculture in China.
The report predicts that by 2023, mobile data traffic will near 107 exabytes per month, a figure equal to every mobile subscriber worldwide streaming full HD video for 10 hours. At this point, Ericsson expects more than 20 per cent of mobile data traffic to be carried by 5G networks.
Fredrik Jejdling, Executive Vice President and Head of Business Area Networks, says: “2018 is the year 5G networks go commercial as well as for large-scale deployments of cellular IoT. These technologies promise new capabilities that will impact people’s lives and transform industries. This change will only come about through the combined efforts of industry players and regulators aligning on spectrum, standards and technology.”
