The first commercial 5G networks — based on LTE Release 15 — will launch in 2019 and will provide coverage to a third of the world’s population by 2025. The number of 5G connections is forecast to reach 1.1 billion by 2025, said GSMA.
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There were 4.8 billion unique mobile subscribers and 7.9 billion SIM connections in 2016 worldwide.
Almost three-quarters of connections will be running mobile broadband — 3G and 4G networks — by 2020 from 55 percent in 2016.
The proportion of 4G connections alone is forecast to almost double from 23 percent to 41 percent by 2020 as a result of ongoing investments in 4G networks by operators.
Telecom operators launched 580 4G LTE networks across 188 countries, providing 4G coverage to approximately 60 percent of the global population in 2016.
Mobile operators will invest $700 billion during 2017-2020 as the telecom industry enters the 5G era. Mobile operators have invested over a trillion dollars in their networks since 2010.
The number of unique mobile subscribers will surpass 5 billion this year, according to GSMA. The 5 billion-subscriber milestone will be achieved by mid-year 2017 and will increase to 5.7 billion by the end of the decade.
By that point, almost three-quarters of the world’s population will be subscribed to a mobile service. Subscriber growth over this period will be driven primarily by large Asia markets such as India, which alone is forecast to add 310 million new unique subscribers by 2020.
The study also highlights the on-going shift to mobile broadband networks and smartphones, paving the way towards the 5G era, and the mobile industry’s growing contribution to the global economy, jobs and social development.
“Mobile is a global platform that supports two-thirds of the world’s population, delivering the connectivity and infrastructure that is powering new digital economies and addressing socioeconomic challenges,” said Mats Granryd, director general of the GSMA.
Mobile technologies and services accounted for 4.4 percent of global GDP in 2016, equivalent to around $3.3 trillion of economic value. This is forecast to increase to more than $4.2 trillion by 2020, or 4.9 percent of projected global GDP.
The mobile ecosystem directly and indirectly supported 28.5 million jobs in 2016, a figure expected to increase to 30.9 million by 2020.
The mobile industry will contribute $500 billion in the form of general taxation in 2020 against $450 billion last year. This does not include government revenue raised via spectrum auctions, which totalled almost $19 billion in 2016.
The number of individuals accessing the internet over mobile devices has doubled over the past five years to 3.6 billion, and will rise to 4.7 billion, equivalent to 60 per cent of the global population, by 2020.
