Ericsson Mobility Report: 5G to top 570 million subscriptions in Southeast Asia and Oceania in 2027

5G subscriptions in Southeast Asia and Oceania are expected to more than double in 2022 from around 15 million at the end of 2021. The forecast is contained in the latest edition of the Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC, news, filings) Mobility Report, which also predicts that current global 5G subscriptions will pass the one billion milestone by the end of 2022.

As more network deployments take place over the next few years, 5G mobile subscriptions in Southeast Asia and Oceania are expected to grow at a CAGR of 83 percent over the forecast period, reaching 570 million in 2027.

This figure will almost equal the total regional number of 4G subscriptions at that time. Mobile data traffic per smartphone continues to grow strongly and is expected to reach around 45GB per month in 2027 – a CAGR of 30 percent. Wider 5G adoption and new XR services are expected to drive traffic growth in the latter part of the forecast period up to 2027.

Igor Maurell, Head of Ericsson Thailand, says: “Southeast Asia, especially Thailand, is expected to see a robust growth in terms of both 5G subscriptions and consumption. In South East Asia and Oceania, mobile data traffic per smartphone continues to grow strongly and is expected to reach around 45GB per month in 2027 – a CAGR of 30 percent. The Thai market is very dynamic with some of the most ICT-savvy consumers in the world.

“Ericsson is here for the long term and remains committed to playing a key role in the transformation and digitalization of Thailand. We look forward to developing the 5G eco system in Thailand so that consumers can enjoy the immersive benefits of 5G like XR/AR and cloud gaming and the digital transformation of enterprises in Thailand can be accelerated .Availability of 5G spectrum across low, mid and high bands in Thailand  will be key to delivering the best customer experience by ensuring optimal capacity, coverage and speeds for 5G users in Thailand.”

North America is forecast to lead the world in 5G subscription penetration in the next five years with nine-of-every-ten subscriptions in the region expected to be 5G by 2027.

The 2027-timeline also includes projections that 5G will account for: 82 percent of subscriptions in Western Europe; 80 percent in the Gulf Cooperation Council region; and 74 percent in Northeast Asia.

The latest Ericsson Mobility Report – the twenty-second edition of Ericsson’s network traffic insights and forecasts – also reveals that global mobile network data traffic doubled in the past two years.

This traffic growth was driven by increased smartphone and mobile broadband usage, as well as the digitalization of society and industries. The recent statistics and forecasts highlight the strong demand data connectivity and digital services have, and are expected to have, despite the global Covid-19 pandemic and geopolitical uncertainties. Several hundred million people are becoming new mobile broadband subscribers every year.

The June 2022 Ericsson Mobility Report also verifies that 5G is scaling faster than all previous mobile technology generations. About a quarter of the world’s population currently has access to 5G coverage. Some 70 million 5G subscriptions were added during the first quarter of 2022 alone. By 2027, about three-quarters of the world’s population will be able to access 5G, according to the report.

The report also highlights the increasingly important role that Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) is playing in the delivery of broadband services. Ericsson predicts that the number of FWA connections will exceed 100 million in 2022, a figure that is forecast to more than double by 2027, reaching almost 230 million.

On the Internet of Things (IoT), the report notes that in 2021, broadband IoT (4G/5G) overtook 2G and 3G as the technology that connects the largest share of all cellular IoT connected devices, accounting for 44 percent of all connections.

Massive IoT technologies (NB-IoT, Cat-M) increased by almost 80 percent during 2021, reaching close to 330 million connections. The number of IoT devices connected by these technologies is expected to overtake 2G/3G in 2023.

Ericsson Mobility Report
Ericsson’s publicly announced 5G contracts
Ericsson 5G
Ericsson’s 4G and 5G Fixed Wireless Access
The Internet of Things (IoT) technology – Ericsson