Ericsson: 5G NR commercial network will be put into production in 2019. The number of eMBB users will exceed 1 billion by the end of 2023.

According to the mobile market report released by Ericsson recently, 5G will cover more than 20% of the world's population in 2023. By the end of 2023, the number of eMBB (enhanced mobile broadband) 5G users will exceed 1 billion. Gigabit LTE network deployment is booming, and multiple Massive MIMO trial networks are being deployed.

5G will cover more than 20% of the world's population in 2023

Ericsson recently released the latest mobile market report covering global mobile user trends and development prospects, VoLTE trends, mobile data traffic trends, IoT trends, global network coverage and network evolution trends.

According to the Ericsson Mobile Market Report, the first commercial networks based on independent 5G NR are expected to be put into use in 2019, and most network deployments will start in 2020. It is estimated that by the end of 2023, the number of eMBB (enhanced mobile broadband) 5G users will exceed 1 billion.

5G will cover more than 20% of the world's population in 2023

In Northeast Asia, 5G will be the first to deploy in South Korea, Japan and China. For the entire region, by 2023, 5G subscribers will account for 34% of the total number of mobile subscribers in the region. It is estimated that by the end of 2023, 5G users in North America will account for 37% of the total number of mobile users. Western Europe is expected to develop slowly, and by the end of 2023, 5G users will account for 16% of the total number of mobile users.

Ericsson said that the calculation of its 5G subscribers is to access the 5G network, and the terminal supports the 5G new air interface (NR) defined by 3GPP R15, which is regarded as a 5G subscriber.

In the past, mobile networks were first deployed in urban areas and then gradually extended to suburban and major highway networks. Similarly, 5G is expected to be deployed first in dense urban areas to support enhanced mobile broadband services, and by 2023, 5G technology will cover more than 20% of the global population.

The use cases with extensive requirements have greatly promoted the development of 5G. One of the first commercial use cases for 5G will be fixed wireless access (FWA), which means building coverage in urban areas. Other use cases will come from industries such as automotive, manufacturing, energy and utilities, and healthcare, and will drive demand growth across the private network.

The Ericsson Mobile Market Report states that mobile networks with LTE-A gigabit rates have been launched and tested in various regions around the world. At present, operators have launched commercial gigabit LTE networks through carrier aggregation, MIMO and 256QAM technologies. The deployment speed is expected to accelerate in 2018. Moreover, many trial networks (based on commercial network infrastructure and chipsets) have also achieved Gigabit/second rates, and such networks are expected to be commercially available in 2018.

The data shows that there are currently 644 commercial LTE networks deployed in 200 countries and regions, of which 212 have been upgraded to LTE-A networks, and 14 Gigabit LTE networks have been put into commercial use.

“As of November 2017, there are already 14 commercial Gigabit LTE networks, most of which are supported by Ericsson’s network, including the world’s first Gigabit LTE network deployed by Ericsson and Telstra in Australia. Ericsson has also deployed a Gigabit LTE network with China Unicom," said Ma Wei, general manager of Ericsson's Northeast Asia market.

Ericsson said that one of the limiting factors in providing higher capacity and faster data transfer rates is the ability to provide a sufficient number of licensed spectrum. LAA is a new technology that allows operators to combine unlicensed spectrum with their licensed spectrum to increase network capacity and speed. The technology is expected to be commercially deployed in 2018.

Another technology that improves the end-user experience, increases network capacity and coverage, and reduces interference is Massive MIMO. Massive MIMO will play a pivotal role in contemporary mobile communications, and with the popularity of 5G technology, it will become even more important. Currently, multiple Massive MIMO trial networks are being deployed and are expected to be commercially available in 2018.