Forced isolation of societies during a pandemic increased the demand for data connectivity and transfer, and highlighted the importance of data transfer parameters.
By the end of 2025, there will be 2.8 billion subscribers to the fifth generation cellular network in the world, according to the Ericsson Mobility Report. There will be almost 8.9 billion of all subscribers of mobile services. The latest edition of the Ericsson report shows that by the end of this year 190 million people will be using the new network, compared to 12 million last year.
In five years, almost half of mobile data transfer will take place in fifth generation networks. They will then have the majority (55-65 percent) of the world’s population – more than 10 times more than by the end of last year (5 percent). In our region – Central and Eastern Europe – over a quarter of mobile network subscribers (27%) will choose new generation by 2025, while the majority will continue to use the previous generation standard (LTE). In Western Europe, by contrast, more than half of subscribers (55 percent) will put their bets by 5G, and the report predicts even greater popularity in North-East Asia (60 percent) and North America (74 percent).
In the Ericsson Consumer Lab study – included in the report – 83 percent respondents from 11 countries said they intend to invest in 5G technology and better broadband at home to prepare for the eventual next wave of the COVID-19 epidemic .
The pandemic slowed down processes related to the implementation of the 5G network in some countries of the world, including Poland . In China, on the other hand, after a short stoppage of the process of launching a new network during lockdown, operators’ activities significantly accelerated. The impact of COVID-19 on the introduction of 5G is also positive, because the forced isolation of societies increased the demand for data connectivity and transfer, and highlighted the importance of data transfer parameters, which are much better in the new network (speed, bandwidth, delay). The Ericsson report here indicates that in the first quarter of this year. data transmission in mobile networks around the world increased by 14 percent compared to the last quarter of last year
The new network can be used commercially in Poland for over a month . In the first half of May, Plus introduced its 5G offer for its subscribers. T-Mobile and Play did it in June, and Orange will launch the first fifth-generation service on July 1. All these 5G networks were built on frequencies used so far for previous generations’ communications (mainly LTE).
No operator has yet provided the number of people using his 5G services. Access to the 5G network is available to all customers of Plus and Cyfrowy Polsat, free of charge. In the future, data transmission in 5G technology will be available only to users of appropriate tariffs. In T-Mobile, 5G services are available without additional fees for customers using new individual tariffs (introduced in September 2019) and companies using MagentaBIZNES – where data transmission speed limits have now been abolished. Play offers new generation services to users of new and part of existing tariffs.