Global wireless 5G adoption has reached 701 million connections in the first quarter of 2022. Omdia data forecast 5G connections will reach 1.2 billion by the end of this year, said 5G Americas.
Mobile network operators have added 410 million 5G connections from Q1 2021 to Q1 2022. The forecasts suggest global 5G connections will accelerate again in 2023, approaching 2 billion and reach 4.8 billion by the end of 2026.
Omdia principal analyst Kristin Paulin said: “Oceania, Eastern & South-Eastern Asia, and China in particular, continue to drive global trends, as this region accounted for 81.1 percent of all 5G subs at end-1Q22. After this, North America has the second largest share of 5G subs with 11.7 percent at end-1Q22.”
North America had 82 million 5G connections in Q1 2022, an addition of 12 million 5G connections for the quarter. 131 million 5G connections are expected to come from North America in 2022. North America had 509 million LTE connections in Q1 2022.
Latin America and the Caribbean is projected to have 28 million 5G connections by year end of 2022, and 307 million by 2026. Latin America and Caribbean had 506 million 4G LTE connections in Q1 2022, the report said.
The number of 5G networks globally has reached 224, according to data from TeleGeography and 5G Americas. That number is expected to reach 313 by the end of 2022 and 352 by the end of 2024, representing strong 5G network investment growth in many regions throughout the world.
