Latin America. Global adoption of 5G wireless networks is doubling year-on-year and there are 813 million connections at the end of the second quarter of 2022. According to data from Omdia and 5G Americas, the projection of global 5G connections will reach 1.1 billion by the end of this year.
Chris Pearson, President of 5G Americas, said, "The advancement of 5G continues across the Americas, with more spectrum, coverage and usage. We are entering an era of innovation with an expansive 5G ecosystem that is learning how to leverage the technical capabilities of this great technology."
The doubling of global 5G connections is in line with mobile data usage, which is also roughly doubling every year, according to Ericsson. The most recent data from Omdia suggests that 430 million 5G connections were added globally from the second quarter of 2021 to the second quarter of 2022, representing an increase of 1,121.1 percent from 383 million to 813 million. These figures equate to consecutive quarterly growth of 16 percent, from 703 million in the first quarter of 2022 to 813 million in the second quarter of 2022. Global 5G connections are projected to accelerate again in 2023 to approach 2 billion and reach 5.9 billion by the end of 2027.
By region, North America had a total of 99 million 5G connections and 502 million LTE connections at the end of the second quarter of 2022. This translates to an additional 17 million 5G connections in the quarter – a 20.7 percent increase over the first quarter of 2022. In addition, CTIA points to rapid growth in U.S. 5G adoption, which now identifies 315 million Americans with 5G coverage and one-third of U.S. adults with an active 5G device. In total, 137 million 5G connections are projected to come from North America by the end of 2022.
Comparatively, 4G LTE is forecast to remain strong in Latin America and the Caribbean until the end of 2022. In the second quarter of 2022, there were 540 million 4G LTE connections, representing quarterly growth of 6.9 percent with 34.7 million new LTE subscriptions, a figure forecast to reach 541 million by the end of the year. The projection for Latin America and the Caribbean is that they will have 22 million 5G connections by the end of 2022, and 398 million by 2027.
According to José Otero, Vice President for the Caribbean and Latin America of 5G Americas: "The deployment and adoption of 5G are advancing in Latin America. Governments will need to continue working with industry to streamline processes and provide more radio spectrum to operators in the region. Latin America is an industrial hub of global importance and 5G will bring economic and social benefits to everyone in the region."
In total, the number of commercial 5G networks in the world reached 233, according to data from TeleGeography and 5G Americas. That figure is forecast to reach 313 by the end of 2022 and 352 by the end of 2024, representing strong growth in 5G network investments in many regions around the world. The following is a summary of the number of 4G 5G and LTE network deployments as of August 15, 2022:
5G:
Global: 233
North America: 14
Caribbean and Latin America: 26
4G LTE:
Global: 699
North America: 18
Caribbean and Latin America: 131
