Europe trails US and Asia in 5G adoption

According to a new report from CCS Insight, Western Europe continues to trail both the US and Asia in the way of 5G adoption.

The report, Market Forecast: 5G Subscription, shows that a number of operators across the US and Asian markets are targeting commercial deployment in 2019, with initial commercial 5G services expected as early as late 2018 in the US.

See also:

• Cisco and partners come together to give UK leading position in 5G

• Ericsson adds leading Malta network Melita to growing list of 5G partners

• TIM and Huawei build Italy's first 5G infrastructure as part of government plan

“The industry might be struggling to establish the business models for investment in 5G, but this isn't stopping leading operators battling for bragging rights to launch the first networks,” said Kester Mann, Principal Analyst covering operators at CCS Insight.”

“Competitive forces and the need for capacity are the leading drivers of early deployment, although we caution this could set unrealistic expectations for initial network capability.”

China is expected to hit 100mn 5G connections in 2021, surpassing 1bn in 2025, taking the lead after early launches in Japan, South Korea and the US. Meanwhile, Europe is only expected to hit 100mn connections in 2023 as the regional market continues to lag behind, with a lack of market fragmentation and scale, whilst operators continue to preference their focus on 4G.

The growing autonomous driving and remote healthcare markets are expected to act as key drivers in the 5G market, whilst CCS Insight also predicts that network expansion will be pushed by the bandwidth needed to support greater video consumption on mobile devices.

By 2025, mobile broadband is expected to represent 98% of all 5G connections.