The number of commercially launched 5G networks has more than doubled over the last 3 months, according to a market research from Hadden Telecoms.
Overall, 33 operators have commercially launched 5G networks and service in 20 countries, compared to 15 in March 2019. More than 211 operators had invested in 5G in 87 countries, as of March 2019.
Hadden has identified 236 additional network operator investments in 5G in 82 more countries including 8 operators that declared “5G-ready” networks or are “soft launched.”
The 20 countries where 5G services are available include Australia, Bahrain, Estonia, Finland, Italy, Kuwait, Lesotho, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, The Philippines, UAE, UK, Uruguay, and USA.
According to Hadden, enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) is the first common use case of 5G, which include fixed wireless access broadband (FWA) services offered from 2018.
Mobile services enabled by 5G include hotspots offered from December 2018 and smartphones available from 1H 2019.
Last week Hadden said 69 5G devices were announced by 35 manufacturers. There were 21 CPEs and 20 5G-enabled smartphones as of 20 June 2019.
