As 5G subscription uptake continues globally, it is expected to reach nearly 2.9-billion by the end of 2025 and account for one-third of all mobile subscriptions.

5G subscriptions, which accounted for one-quarter of total mobile subscriptions at the end of 2024, with a penetration rate of 27%, are forecast to reach 6.3-billion by the end of 2030, growing to account for two-thirds of all subscriptions.

More than 340 service providers have now launched commercial 5G services and about 70 have deployed or launched 5G standalone.

During the first quarter of 2025, about 145-million 5G subscriptions were added, bringing the total to just above 2.4-billion, according to the ‘Ericsson Mobility Report’ for June 2025.

As subscribers migrate to 5G, 4G continues to decline, registering a 55-million drop in the first quarter of 2025 to just below 4.9-billion.

5G is anticipated to overtake 4G as the dominant mobile access technology by subscription in 2027, nine years after its launch.

The highest 5G subscription penetration was in North America at 71%, followed by North-East Asia at 52%, the Gulf Cooperation Council countries at 45% and Western Europe at 41%.

It is projected that Western Europe will have the highest 5G subscription penetration in 2030 at 93%, followed by North America at 91% and the GCC at 90%.

In sub-Saharan Africa, 4G is set to account for 37% of all mobile subscriptions in 2030, while 5G is expected to grow significantly to about 400-million subscriptions.

Smartphone adoption continues to accelerate, with subscriptions projected to rise to 890-million – 40% of these 5G subscriptions – in 2030.

2G and 3G network sunsetting continues around the world, with the phasing out of 3G networks expected to be faster than that of 2G over the next few years, based on country and service provider.

Globally, 3G subscriptions declined by 19-million during the quarter, while 2G subscriptions declined by 30-million.

In sub-Saharan Africa, the ongoing rollout of 4G and the early stages of 5G deployment are expected to gradually phase out legacy technologies, with 2G and 3G subscriptions expected to decline by 5% and 10% respectively over the forecast period.

Meanwhile, mobile network data traffic continues to grow, but with a declining year-on-year growth rate, resulting in a forecast compound annual growth rate of 17% to 2030.

During the first quarter, mobile network data traffic grew 19% year-on-year and 5% quarter-on-quarter, driven by rising smartphone subscriptions and increasing average data volume per subscription

Total monthly global mobile network data traffic reached 172 EB, with Ericsson forecasting growth, excluding traffic generated by Fixed Wireless Access (FWA), by a factor of around 2.3 to reach 280 EB a month in 2030.

When FWA is included, total mobile network data traffic is forecast to grow by a factor of around 2.6, rising to 430 EB a month by 2030.