Abolaji Adebayo 
No fewer than 261 telecoms operators in 101 countries including Nigeria have launched commercial 5G mobile services by January 2024, while more than 90 telcos from 64 markets have also committed to launching 5G in the coming years. This was revealed by the GSMA Intelligence ‘Mobile Economy 2024’ report.
According to the report, the number of 5G connections globally reached 1.6 billion in 2023, and it is projected to rise to 5.5 billion by 2030. “5G connections are expected to represent over half (51%) of mobile connections by 2029, rising to 56 per cent by the end of the decade – making 5G the dominant connectivity technology,” the report stated. It stated that the number of connections on legacy networks 2G and 3G will continue to decline in the coming years as users migrate to 4G and 5G, leading to an increasing number of network sunsets.
It is estimated that 143 legacy networks (2G and 3G) are scheduled to be retired between the end of 2023 and 2030, with around 5% of these planned by the end of 2024. Data released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) indicated that 5G subscriptions in the country increased to 2.3 million in December 2023. This, however, represents 1.04 per cent of the country’s total active subscriptions for telephone services, which stood at 224.7 million at the end of the year.
Three mobile network operators, MTN, Airtel, and Mafab Communications have rolled out 5G in Nigeria. However, while the operators continue to invest in expanding the service, several factors, including the high cost of 5G devices, have slowed down subscriptions for the service, which offers the best quality of experience compared with 2G, 3G, and 4G.
Meanwhile, according to NCC, most telephone connections in Nigeria were still on 2G as of December 2023. The industry data shows that 2G accounted for 57.84 per cent of all connections in Nigeria at the end of the year. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, developed Asia Pacific, North America, and Greater China are expected to lead in terms of 5G adoption due to the expansion of network coverage, intensified 5G marketing initiatives, and growing penetration of 5G devices. “With 5G already established, leading operators in these markets are now rolling out 5G SA (standalone) and making plans for 5G-Advanced,” GSMA Intelligence stated.
Out of the 261 commercial 5G services available, 47 are provided by 5G SA networks, with a further 89 planned deployments in the near term. search and analysis unit of London-based telco body GSMA said that in emerging 5G markets, the pace of growth in connections and coverage will be slower due to challenges related to device affordability and spectrum availability.
“This highlights that 4G still has plenty of room to grow and will remain the dominant technology in many countries for the period to 2030,” GSMA Intelligence said. As per the firm’s data, monthly global mobile data traffic per connection surges from 10.2 GB in 2022 to 12.8GB in 2023. But it noted that there is a “significant disparity” between high-income regions, and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
“The early success of 5G was driven by enhanced mobile broadband (EMBB) and EMBB-related network traffic requirements. Yet, while consumer requirements will continue their trajectory, we’re now seeing use cases beyond that. Opportunities are now appearing in areas including API monetisation and 5G RedCap for enterprise IoT – all supported by 5G-Advanced and 5G SA networks,” said Peter Jarich, Head of GSMA Intelligence.
