As the adoption of fifth-generation (5G) technology accelerates, the technology’s population coverage has reached 35% globally, according to the latest Ericsson Mobility report.

However, there are large regional variations in 5G population coverage, as well as mid-band coverage, ranging from 7% to 90%, information and communication technology group Ericsson revealed.

The June edition of the report shows that, while 5G mid-band population coverage reached 30% worldwide by the end of 2022, outside China, it is estimated to be just over 10%.

Mid-band is said to be a sweet spot for delivering the “5G experience”, as it combines high capacity with good coverage and is available in most markets. Combined with a low-band frequency division duplex 5G carrier, it can provide full coverage and mobility, according to Ericsson.

Latin America and the Middle East and Africa have reached about 7% mid-band population coverage, with a similar total 5G population coverage of about 8%.

China has built 5G population coverage mainly on mid-band and has reached coverage of about 90%, while Europe, excluding Russia, has a large variation between 58% total 5G population coverage and mid-band coverage of about 15%, owing to limited availability of mid-band spectrum in some countries, which results in deployments being mainly in low-band.

North America has 5G deployments across low-, mid- and high-band frequencies, with low-band covering about 95% and mid-band about 80%.

The deployment of 5G continues at a rapid pace, with 5G population coverage expected to increase from the current 35% to 85% in 2028.

Globally, about 240 commercial 5G networks have been launched to date and about 35 service providers have deployed or launched 5G standalone.

During the first quarter of 2023, total 5G subscriptions reached 1.1-billion, after recording the addition of 125-million subscribers. By the end of 2023, total 5G subscriptions are projected to surpass 1.5-billion.

In Addition, 5G subscriptions are now forecast to reach 4.6-billion globally by the end of 2028, when the technology will account for more than 50% of all mobile subscriptions and become the dominant mobile access technology by subscriptions.

In sub-Saharan Africa, 5G is forecast to have the fastest growth rate in subscriptions, attributed primarily to growing from a low base.

More than ten countries in the region have launched commercial 5G networks to date, with more planned, raising the forecast for 5G subscriptions to 13% of the total subscription base in 2028.

However, fourth-generation (4G) will be the main contributor to new subscriptions in the period up to 2028, accounting for more than half of all mobile subscriptions at the end of the forecast period in 2028.

While second-generation (2G) remains an important technology in the region, owing to low-priced devices, affordability of service plans and a large number of rural subscribers, 2G subscriptions are projected to continuously decline until 2028, when they will account for 29% of total subscriptions.

Middle East and North Africa service providers continue to invest in 4G and are predicted to see subscription rise by 4% a year between 2022 and 2028, to account for about 60% of the total subscription base in the region.

Further, 5G subscriptions will account for 32% of the total subscriptions in 2028, as more countries issue licences and spectrum to enable 5G network investment, while 2G subscriptions are expected to decline significantly between 2022 and 2028 to account for about 5% of total subscriptions.

Meanwhile, by 2027, as 4G traffic declines, all mobile data traffic growth will emerge from 5G.

Total global mobile data traffic, excluding traffic generated by fixed-wireless access (FWA), reached 93 EB a month at the end of 2022 and is projected to grow by a factor of 3.5 to reach 329 EB a month in 2028.

Including FWA, total mobile network traffic reached about 118 EB a month at the end of 2022 and is expected to reach 472 EB a month by the end of 2028.

The Ericsson Mobility Report revealed that 5G’s share of mobile data traffic was 15% at the end of 2022, an increase from 9% at the end of 2021, and is forecast to grow to 66% in 2028.

Traffic growth is driven by coverage build-out and continuing strong adoption of 4G, and eventually 5G, linked to a rise in smartphone subscriptions and an increase in average data usage per smartphone.