The fifth generation of wireless cellular networks, “5G”, has seen remarkable growth in the last year, reports industry trade organization 5G Americas. Collected data indicates global 5G connections increased by 76% from the end of 2021 to the end of 2022, reaching up to 1.05 billion. This uptake of 5G is expected to continue into 2023 with momentum in enterprise subscriptions and industrial deployments.

North America leads the way in 5G adoption, with 119 million 5G and 507 million LTE connections by the end of Q4 2022. 5G penetration of the population in the North American market is approaching 32 percent, and the region added 52 million 5G connections for the year—a gain of 78 percent over Q4 2021. Latin America and the Caribbean had 12 million 5G connections by the year-end of 2022 and are expected to have 400 million by 2027.

The number of 5G commercial networks globally has reached 259, according to data from TeleGeography and 5G Americas. That number is expected to reach 390 by the end of 2023 and 403 by the end of 2025, representing strong 5G network investment growth in many regions throughout the world.

The big picture: Overall, 5G technology is expanding at a rapid pace. Ericsson estimates that total global mobile data traffic reached 118 exabytes (EB) per month by the end of 2022 and is projected to nearly quadruple to reach 325 EB per month in 2028. 5G technology is set to continue to improve, with the number of 5G commercial networks projected to reach 390 by the end of 2023 and 403 by the end of 2025.