North American 5G connections grow 67% in one year

[[428617]]

North American 5G connections grew 67% from the second quarter of last year, and global connections grew 41% from the first quarter of 2021, according to a new report from research firms Omdia and 5G Americas.

According to Omdia, the total number of connections worldwide now stands at 429 million, up 124 million from the first quarter, and is expected to reach 692 million by the end of the year.

At the end of the second quarter of this year, North America had a total of 44.6 million 5G connections, an increase of 17.9 million from the previous quarter. Additionally, North America had 501 million LTE connections at the end of the second quarter of 2021, marking a quarterly decline of 0.66% for LTE.

But not all connections are good connections. A recent report from OpenSignal found that in the US, people with the best 5G experience tend to be in the Northeast.

In addition to more connections, more 5G networks are coming online, with 10 networks launching globally in the second quarter alone, according to TeleGeography. There are now 182 commercial 5G networks, a number that is expected to grow to 220 by the end of this year and 323 by the end of 2023.

The growth of commercial 5G networks will help drive a dramatic increase in 5G connections in the coming years. Omdia predicts that the total number of 5G connections will reach 4.7 billion in 2026, with 512 million of them coming from North America.

“5G is developing at a very rapid pace. However, the pace of user adoption is just the beginning,” said Chris Pearson, president of 5G Americas, in a prepared statement about global and North American 5G connectivity. “5G will set the stage for a new era of global technology innovation.”