Latin America. Despite the pandemic and the economic challenges plaguing the world, the fifth generation of "5G" wireless technology advanced to four times the growth rate in number of subscribers than 4G LTE according to 5G Americas, the wireless industry association and the voice of 5G and LTE for the Americas.
According to data provided by Omdia, 225 million 5G subscribers were added in the world between T3 2019 and T3 2020, a feat that took LTE 4G four years to achieve. As of December 2020, there are 229 million 5G subscriptions in the world, representing a staggering 66 percent increase from last quarter, and projected to reach 236 million globally by the end of 2020.
Chris Pearson, President of 5G Americas, said: "The emergence of fast, low-latency 5G networks comes at an important time when people have moved to work remotely. This historic adaptation clearly demonstrates the need for continuous mobile connectivity in the face of social and physical distancing requirements that changed the way we work, live and play."
Overall, in Q3 2020, another 29 5G networks became operational, bringing the total to 143 commercial 5G networks worldwide, a figure that is projected to reach 180 by the end of 2020, according to TeleGeography data.
In addition, the increasing availability of 5G-capable devices also benefited customers and the industry, as 69 percent of quality-driven service providers launched commercial 5G smartphones for their networks, according to the latest Ericsson Mobility November 2020 Report. The Global Mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) noted that there are 519 5G devices announced, of which 303 were commercially available at the end of November 2020.
In addition to 5G, 4G LTE is also exhibiting healthy growth, beating year-end projections of $5.73 billion to reach $5.8 billion by the end of Q3 2020. Of those projections, 506 million 4G LTE connections will come from North America and 406 million will come from Latin America and the Caribbean.
As for regional figures, North America had 3.4 million 5G connections and more than 500 million LTE connections at the close of Q3 2020. For the region, this represents 47% quarterly growth in 5G, an increase of more than 1 million 5G connections over the quarter. It also means 3% LTE growth, a gain of 14 million LTE connections over the quarter, as LTE continues to extend its long wake of growth.
According to José Otero, Vice President of 5G Americas for Latin America and the Caribbean, "High-speed mobile connections continue to grow in the region, due to the increase in the number of urban areas with 5G services in Brazil and the continued expansion of LTE in suburban and rural locations in Colombia and Peru. New spectrum allocation processes in Chile, the Dominican Republic and Peru will accelerate the arrival of more 5G networks in the region, cementing its role as the fastest growing mobile technology to reach Latin America and the Caribbean."
At the dawn of 5G in Latin America and the Caribbean, the region saw an increase of 1,189 new 5G subscriptions in the quarter, giving a total of 4,874, representing 32% quarterly sequential growth. By the end of 2020, Omdia projected that Latin America and the Caribbean would account for an additional 184,000 5G connections. However, 5G had a slower start than expected in Latin America, and it is likely that subscriptions will not meet this projection. In contrast, LTE continued to grow strongly, to end Q3 2020 with 391 million LTE subscriptions (4% growth over the previous quarter).
The number of networks employing 4G and 5G wireless technologies as of December 2020 is summarized as follows:
Latin America and the Caribbean:
5G: 11
LTE Advanced: 49
LTE: 124
Worldwide:
5G: 143
LTE Advanced: 338
LTE: 680
*Source: TeleGeography and 5G Americas
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