According to data from the 5G Americas organization and the consulting firm Omdia, North America is leading the charge in 5G adoption, where this technology already includes 32% of total cellular connections.
That particular region (which includes the United States, Canada and Alaska) added 22 million new connections to operator networks in the first quarter and thus North America’s 5G connections totaled 220 million.
Some of the major players in the diverse businesses proposed by the expansion of the regional and global 5G universe are Ericsson Mobility, T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon, Nokia, Sakstel, Samsung, among others.
Commenting on this development, Chris Pearson, President of 5G Americas, said: “The wireless technology sector continues to demonstrate its strength and importance through Rapid adoption and robust, sustained growth around the world. North America remains at the forefront of 5G deployment.”
The expansion of 5G is also taking place in Latin America, although he does it at his own pace. The region generated 9 million new 5G connections in the first quarter of 2024, to reach a total of 48 million connections of this technology.
The validity of 4G connections in telecommunications
“5G continues to accelerate its expansion, while the growing number of operators offering the technology continue to expand the population coverage of their networks in urban and suburban areas. In parallel, 4G continues its expansive presence in rural and remote areas, helping governments meet their national connectivity objectives,” said José Otero, Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean at 5G Americas.
In Latin America, 4G technology is still expanding strongly, dominating the markets far more than 5G. In the reference quarter, 8 million new LTE connections were added. out of a total of 591 million in the region.
But these figures also reveal that while 4G LTE subscriptions remain strong across the region, the availability of handsets and spectrum for 5G continues to grow.
This is also happening at a global level: the number of 5G networks deployed exceeded the pace of deployment 4G LTE networks in the equivalent time of the technology cycle.
There are almost as many 5G deployments in North America as there are 4G LTE networks. There are 316 commercial 5G networks in the world today, a number that is expected to grow along with significant investments in 5G infrastructure around the world, according to the 5G Americas report.
Looking to the future, the specialized consultancy Omdia projects that global 5G connections will reach 7.7 billion in 2028and North America is expected to have 700 million connections 5G that same year.
“The North American region is quickly on its way to having only LTE and 5G essentially. Most operators have already turned off their networks legacy. In addition, the vast 5G coverage and devices in a varied price range contribute to the adoption momentum of 5G. It is also expected that the Internet of Things (IoT) is expected to play a larger role in driving 5G adoption later in the forecast,” said Kristin Paulin, principal analyst at Omdia.
Development and uses of 5G technology in Latin America
In Latin America, Brazil and Mexico, due to the scale of their markets, they are ahead in number of 5G connections.
In the case of Brazil, the number of connections of its main operators Claro, Vivo and TIM, already exceeds 20 millionalmost half of the total connections in Latin America.
In Mexico, where the company Telcel, part of the Slim group, is in the lead, they expect that 17 million 5G connections will be reached in 2025.
According to data from the consulting firm Statistathe percentage of mobile connections with 5G technology in Latin America projected for 2025 is led by Brazil with 17%, followed by Mexico (14%), Chile (14%), Argentina (10%), Peru (7%) and Colombia (4%).
Meanwhile, Argentina was on the list of the most backward countries because only in October 2023 The spectra were auctioned among the main operators, Of course, Telefonica and Telecomwhich together paid the State a fee of US$875 million for 20 years of frequency use.
Amid a legal disputel with the Government for the validity of decree 690/20 that regulated rates in the telecommunications sector (repealed by another in 2024) these companies They started almost immediately to install its 5G antennas in different areas of the AMBA and several of the main cities in the province of Buenos Aires and the interior of the country.
Among the benefits and advantages that 5G technology brings, the possibility of Expand the areas of connectivity far beyond the main urban centres, reaching remote or disadvantaged areas.
This also allows connect a greater number of devices to the network without affecting the quality of service.
On the other hand, offers greater bandwidth which allows for a greater flow of information, with greater speed and capacity to transmit data.
This implies, among other things, lower latency or delay in data transmissionso communications can be established almost in real time, given that 5G has a response speed of less than 5 milliseconds, while the speed offered by 4G technology does not fall below 10 milliseconds.
Source: Ambito
