CCS Insight: 5G to take off faster than any previous mobile technology

According to CCS Insight’s 5G forecast published today (18 October), 5G connections will reach 1 billion worldwide in mid-2023, taking less time than 4G to reach this milestone.

The company expects that much of this impetus will come from China, predicting that as early as 2022 the country will account for more than half of all 5G subscribers and that it will still represent more than 40 per cent of global 5G connections by 2025.

Report also expects 5G network rollout in Europe to be delayed by at least a year compared to rollouts in China, South Korea, Japan and the US.

5G subscriptions worldwide, 2018-2025; source: CCS Insight Market Forecast: 5G Subscriptions Worldwide, 2018-2025

Marina Koytcheva, VP forecasting at CCS Insight said: "We see China playing a far more influential role in 5G than it did in 4G. Size, scale and economic growth give China an obvious head start, but we expect network deployments to be much faster than in the early days of 4G. China will dominate 5G thanks to its political ambition to lead technology development, the inexorable rise of local manufacturer Huawei and the breakneck speed at which consumers have upgraded to 4G connections in the recent past."