Three years of 5G operations: Learning from Asia’s success stories

The 5G market is currently in an extraordinary growth phase, driving improved prospects for a range of communications service providers looking for value-added opportunities for their businesses. In the terminal market, global 5G smartphone sales have exceeded 1 billion by the end of March 2022 , and 5G phones accounted for 42% of all mobile phone sales in Q1 2022. During the same period, there were approximately 720 million active 5G users worldwide, accounting for 8% of all subscription users . Currently, mobile service revenues are growing at 3-4% annually ( a level that has not been seen since 2012 ) , and 5G is a factor driving market improvements, but not the only factor.

Asia has been an influential region in driving 5G development. It has been about three years since South Korea launched commercial 5G services ( April 2019 ) and China issued 5G licenses ( June 2019 ), and although countries in other regions have launched 5G services in a similar time frame , it can be said that these two markets have gained the most from 5G and pointed the way for operators in other markets.

Since the launch of 5G , both China and South Korea have seen a strong recovery in mobile service revenues. From a 4-5% annual decline in mid- 2019 , they are now growing 3-4% annually . In 2019 , the high growth in data traffic in both markets slowed significantly, with 4G no longer able to provide growth in a relatively saturated and competitive market environment. 5G has significantly improved revenue performance. Higher value services are the cornerstone of the 5G value proposition in these markets, and high levels of 5G adoption are helping to amplify this effect : at the end of March 2022 , 5G accounted for 31% of all network connections in South Korea (over 40% of smartphones) and 25% of all network connections in China . There are many factors behind this success: strong 5G network development, affordable 5G smartphones, compelling 5G service development in both B2C and B2B segments , and service pricing that stimulates usage and content consumption.

Source: StrategyAnalytics