GSMA Intelligence (GSMAi) forecasts that the momentum of 5G will continue, with global connections expected to increase to 5.5 billion by 2030. The development of 5G Standalone (SA), 5G-Advanced, enterprise IoT, artificial intelligence, GSMA's Open Gateway, and new revenue streams achieved through BCE standards will bring industry opportunities.
Barcelona, Spain, February 28, 2024 – The latest data from GSMA Intelligence (GSMAi) indicates that by 2029, 5G connections are expected to account for over half (51%) of mobile connections, rising to 56% by the end of the century, making 5G the dominant connectivity technology. 5G has been the fastest-deployed mobile generation to date, surpassing one billion connections by the end of 2022, reaching 1.6 billion by the end of 2023, and is projected to grow to 5.5 billion by 2030.
As of January 2024, 261 operators in 101 countries have launched commercial 5G services, with over 90 operators in 64 markets committed to launching 5G services. Out of the 261 available commercial 5G services, 47 are provided by 5G Standalone (SA) networks, with an additional 89 planned for near-term deployment. These services will leverage network slicing, ultra-reliable low-latency communications support, and simplified 5G SA network architecture.
The growth of available 5G SA networks, along with improved support for private and dedicated networks, will support a vast number of connected devices and contribute to realizing the global IoT vision for enterprises. GSMAi data shows that the enterprise segment currently has 10.7 billion IoT connections (compared to 10.5 billion consumer connections), a trend that is expected to continue, with enterprise connections more than doubling to 38.5 billion by 2030, with smart buildings and smart manufacturing accounting for 34% and 16% of total enterprise connections, respectively.
In addition to 5G SA, the launch of 5G Advanced with 3GPP Release 18 will be another key 5G milestone for IoT development, acting as a catalyst for new 5G investments in 2024 and 2025. GSMAi data indicates that, driven by priority use cases such as 5G multicast services and low-cost IoT support, over half of the operators expect to begin deploying 5G-Advanced solutions within a year of their commercial availability.
GSMAi predicts that from now until 2030, mobile data traffic will quadruple, with the expansion of 5G coverage and capacity playing a significant role, underscoring the importance of continued infrastructure investment. It is forecasted that the global monthly mobile data traffic per connection will grow from 12.8GB in 2023 to 47.9GB by 2030.
