GSMA: US Will See Fastest Customer Migration to 5G

The US will reach 100 million 5G connections by early 2023, nearly doubling to 190 million by 2025, according to a new report from the GSMA, which says this growth rate will make it one of the fastest customer migrations to 5G of any nation in the world.

While it is expected that early large-scale deployments will come from South Korea and China will dominate in numbers eventually, the report, "5G Era in the US," highlights how the US and its four major wireless operators -- AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile -- are pioneering the next-generation network. (See Seen & Heard at MWC: 5G Across the Globe.)

Mobile users in the states will see early fixed wireless 5G launches this year, with smartphones to support them in early 2019. 5G will coexist with LTE for many years in the US as the operators here take a phased approach to its rollout. (See You Can't Spell USA Without 5G.)

The GSMA says that enhanced mobile broadband will be the main use case for early 5G deployments, with massive IoT and ultra-reliable, low-latency communications "gaining scale during the later stages of deployment." From a consumer perspective, it says 5G will gain traction for its video capabilities, AR/VR devices and apps for gaming and immersive TV and IoT services like the connected car.

Getting political with the wireless industry association, the operators shared what they saw as the biggest challenges for 5G, calling for a regulatory framework that supports the availability of spectrum, the removal of barriers to deploying small cells and other 5G infrastructure, as well as the allowance of infrastructure-sharing agreements, and the creation of a long-term policy environment that "provides greater predictability, effective competition among companies in the ecosystem, and encourages innovation."

Check out the entire 39-page report right here.

— Sarah Thomas, Contributing Editor, Telco Transformation