Ericsson Mobility Report: COVID-19 impact shows networks’ crucial role in society

Ericsson expects the global number of 5G subscriptions to top 190 million by the end of 2020 and 2.8 billion by the end of 2025. These forecasts are included in the June 2020 edition of the Ericsson Mobility Report, along with projections for data traffic growth, and regional subscriptions.

The report, which surveyed countries across the world including Ireland, also takes an incisive look at the role of networks and digital infrastructure in keeping societies running, and families connected during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fredrik Jejdling, Executive Vice President and Head of Networks, Ericsson, says: “The spread of COVID-19 has prompted people all over the world to change their daily lives and, in many cases, work or study from home. This has led to a rapid shift of network traffic from business to residential areas. The latest Ericsson Mobility Report shows that mobile and fixed networks are increasingly playing an even bigger part of critical national infrastructure.”

As one of the first countries to launch 5G and with more than 1000 employees building next-generation network technology at Ericsson’s research and development centre in Athlone, John Griffin, Head of Ericsson Ireland, believes Ireland is primed to take a leading role in 5G growth and deliver a sizeable boost to the national economy.

“This pandemic has highlighted the true value of connectivity and has shown just how important leading digital infrastructure is to the future of Ireland. As a platform for innovation, 5G presents a great opportunity to not only improve critical national infrastructure but also transform new industries with increases in productivity and efficiency. The potential for 5G is very exciting and it could add as much as EUR 42 billion to Ireland’s GDP by 2030, an important consideration in the country’s economic recovery post-COVID-19,” he said.

Value of digital infrastructure

Changes in behaviour due to lockdown restrictions have caused measurable changes in the usage of both fixed and mobile networks. The largest share of the traffic increase has been absorbed by fixed residential networks, which has experienced a 20-100 per cent growth. But many service providers also noticed a spike in demand on their mobile network.

In a recent study conducted by Ericsson Consumer Lab, 83 per cent of the respondents from 11 countries claim that ICT helped them a lot to cope with the lockdown. The results show an increased adoption and usage of ICT services, such as e-learning and wellness apps, that have helped consumers adapt to new realities, underpinned by connectivity.

Looking ahead, while 57 per cent say they will save money for financial security, one-third plan to invest in 5G and improved broadband at home to be better prepared for a potential second wave of COVID-19.

FWA takes an expanded role

FWA connections are forecast to reach nearly 160 million by end of 2025 – totalling about 25 per cent of global mobile network data traffic. At the end of 2019, global FWA data traffic was estimated to have been around 15 per cent of the global total. It is now projected to grow nearly 8 fold to reach 53 exabytes in 2025, representing 25 per cent of the global total mobile network data traffic.

FWA delivered over 4G or 5G is an increasingly cost-efficient alternative for providing broadband and several factors are driving the FWA market: demand from consumers and businesses for digital services along with government-sponsored programs and subsidies.

Download the June 2020 edition of the Ericsson Mobility Report

The report also includes forecasts on data traffic growth, regional subscriptions plus insights into cloud-based gaming as well as in-depth articles on private dedicated networks and Verizon’s millimetre wave strategy for targeted metropolitan areas.

Ericsson now has more than 93 commercial 5G agreements or contracts with unique communication service providers, of which 40 are live networks.