Global 5G Subscriptions Top One Billion

The number of global 5G subscriptions topped the one billion milestones at the close of 2022, the latest statistics from the Ericsson Mobility report shows. Some 136 million 5G subscriptions were added globally between October and December 2022, bringing the total to just above one billion.

At the close of 2022, 235 communications service providers (CSPs) had launched commercial 5G services. About 35 CSPs have deployed or launched 5G standalone (SA) networks. The three-page Q4 2022 update is an addendum to the full edition of the Ericsson Mobility Report, published in November 2022, which includes retrospective statistics up to, and including, the third financial quarter of 2022.

Among other statistics, the Q4 update shows that there were more than 8.4 billion mobile subscriptions at the close of 2022, a net addition of 39 million between October-December 2022. Nigeria accounted for the most mobile subscription net additions in the period, accounting for more than four million. More than four million were also added in the Philippines. There were about 6.1 billion unique mobile subscribers at the close of 2022.

Mobile broadband accounts for about 86 percent of all mobile subscriptions. Mobile network data traffic grew 40 percent between 4Q21 and 4Q22, reaching 118 EB (exabytes) per month. There was a ten percent quarter-on-quarter mobile network data traffic growth between 3Q22 and 4Q22. Mobile network data traffic has doubled in just two years. 4G subscriptions increased by 36 million from October-end of December 2022 to around 5.1 billion, representing 60 percent of all mobile subscriptions WCDMA/HSPA subscriptions fell by 89 million during 4Q22, while GSM/EDGE-only subscriptions dropped by 40 million during the same period.