“5G networks are now nearing a critical mass of global commercial network deployments and subscribers,” according to 5G Americas. According to Omdia, the world added 385.5 million 5G subscribers between the fourth quarter of 2019 and fourth quarter of 2020 to reach 401 million 5G connections globally.
Total global mobile subscriptions in 2020 stood at eight billion. So 5G subscriptions represent about five percent of total subscriptions. As a rule of thumb, adoption reaches an inflection point at about 10 percent adoption.
As of December 2020, 5G subscriptions grew at three times the adoption rate of 4G. The number of 5G connections is expected to reach 619 million globally by the end of 2021.
