According to the latest update in Ericsson Mobility Report 2022, the number of 5G subscriptions exceeded 1 billion in 2022, with the addition of 136 million subscriptions during October – December 2022 period. The report also noted that around 235 communications service providers (CSPs) have launched commercial 5G services and around 35 have deployed or launched 5G standalone (SA) networks. By contrast, 4G subscriptions grew by 36 million to reach 5.1 billion, representing around 60 per cent of all mobile subscriptions during quarter ended (QE) December 2022.
Meanwhile, WCDMA/HSPA subscriptions declined by 89 million. GSM/EDGE-only subscriptions dropped by 40 million during the quarter, and other technologies decreased by about 4 million. During the period, the total number of mobile subscriptions reached around 8.4 billion, with a net addition of 39 million subscriptions, with Nigeria accounting for the most net additions during the quarter at 4 million, followed by the Philippines (4 million) and Indonesia (3 million), as per the report.
Also, the global mobile subscription penetration was 106 per cent with the number of mobile broadband subscriptions growing by about 80 million in the quarter, totaling 7.2 billion, a year-on-year (Y-o-Y) increase of 5 per cent, the report data showed. Mobile broadband accounts for 86 per cent of all mobile subscriptions. Further, the quarter-on-quarter (Q-o-Q) mobile network data traffic growth between QE September 2022 and QE December 2022 was 10 per cent. That said, the total monthly global mobile network data traffic reached 118 EB.
