5G Growing 4 Times Faster Than 4G Did, With North America Leading: 5G Americas
5G connections worldwide have hit 2.25 billion as the latest generation of wireless grows four times faster than 4G, 5G Americas said Thursday. Based on Omdia research, the report said mobile grew globally to 1.5 wireless connections per person worldwide by the end of last year, compared with one connection in 2014. North America is leading the world in 5G, with 289 million connections, “covering 77% of the region’s population,” the group said. The world also added 438 million IoT connections last year, increasing the global number to 3.6 billion.
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"North America continues to showcase rapid 5G growth, outpacing previous generations and setting the benchmark for global adoption," said Kristin Paulin, principal analyst at Omdia. It found there were 354 commercial 5G networks worldwide as of March 17, with North America being the only region with the same number of 4G and 5G networks (18). That compares with 706 4G/LTE networks worldwide. Latin America and the Caribbean had 53 5G networks, 134 4G. Latin America saw “a significant surge in 5G adoption, doubling its 5G connections in one year to 76 million by 2024 year-end -- up from 38.5 million in 2023,” 5G Americas said.