The Ericsson Mobility Report June 2024 edition has highlighted growth in 5G and fixed wireless access (FWA) worldwide.
Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) Growth
Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) is gaining significant traction as a 5G application for communications service providers (CSPs) worldwide. The latest Ericsson Mobility Report indicates a sharp rise in the number of CSPs offering FWA services. As of April 2024, out of 310 CSPs sampled globally, 241 provided FWA services, with 128 (53 percent) including 5G FWA offerings. This represents a 12-point increase from the previous year, a 29 percent growth.
5G FWA Tariffs and Market Penetration
The advanced capabilities of 5G FWA, including enhanced speed, data handling, and low latency, are making speed-based FWA tariff plans increasingly appealing to CSPs. This trend has led to a nearly 50 percent growth in CSPs offering 5G FWA speed-based tariffs, with 40 percent of all FWA CSPs now implementing these plans. FWA has become the second most prominent 5G use case, following enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB).
Insights from Ericsson
Fredrik Jejdling, Executive Vice President and Head of Networks at Ericsson, emphasized the growing adoption of 5G subscriptions and the pivotal role of FWA and eMBB as leading use cases. He highlighted the importance of deploying 5G Standalone technology to maximize 5G’s potential.
Global 5G Service Providers and Subscriptions
Currently, around 300 CSPs offer 5G services, with about 50 having launched 5G Standalone (5G SA). The first quarter of 2024 saw the addition of approximately 160 million 5G subscriptions globally, bringing the total to over 1.7 billion. The year is expected to see nearly 600 million new subscriptions, with projections indicating close to 5.6 billion 5G subscriptions by the end of 2029. Global 5G population coverage, excluding mainland China, is anticipated to double from 40 percent in 2023 to 80 percent by 2029.
Regional 5G Penetration Forecasts
North America is projected to have the highest 5G penetration by the end of 2029, with 90 percent of subscriptions (430 million) being 5G. In India, 5G subscriptions are expected to surge from 119 million (10 percent of mobile subscriptions) in 2023 to approximately 840 million (65 percent) by 2029.
User Experience and Network Coverage
Data from a leading service provider shows that 97 percent of user activities on 5G mid-band achieve a time-to-content of less than 1.5 seconds, significantly outperforming 5G low-band (67 percent) and 4G (38 percent). Mid-band 5G population coverage outside mainland China has reached 35 percent, with North America and India achieving rapid deployments, topping 85 percent and 90 percent coverage, respectively.
Mobile Network Data Traffic
Ericsson’s revised estimates for mobile network data traffic indicate a year-on-year growth of 25 percent between March 2023 and March 2024. This growth is primarily driven by the migration to newer generations of technology and increased use of data-intensive services like video. The compound annual growth rate of mobile data traffic is forecast at about 20 percent through the end of 2029, with 5G expected to handle 75 percent of all mobile network data by then, up from 25 percent at the end of 2023.
