Europe to Lag Behind Most Markets in 5G Adoption

5G technology will penetrate South Korea, the US, Japan, and China faster than Europe, according to a study from GSMA Intelligence.

It’s no longer in doubt that all available markets will adopt 5G eventually, but the latest data from GSMA Intelligence reveals how fast the various world will react. South Korea will implement 5G the fastest, and it’s expected to reach 66% coverage by 2025.

In second place will come to the US, which is expected to reach 50% coverage by 2025, followed by Japan with 49%, and China at 36%. Last place will be occupied by Europe, with only 30% coverage. South Korea, China, Japan, and the United States will account for more than 50% of all of the world’s 5G subscribers. It’s estimated that by 2025, 5G coverage will hit 18% worldwide, which is a little bit slower than the previous implementation of 4G.

“It’s going to be a small cluster of countries that leads adoption in 5G, with the rest of the world following,” Tim Hatt, head of research at GSMA Intelligence, told Reuters. “It’s going to be a small cluster of countries that leads adoption in 5G, with the rest of the world following,” Tim Hatt, head of research at GSMA Intelligence.”

The same GSMA Intelligence study says that IoT (Internet of Things) will see a noticeable increase in availability, emboldened by the spread of 5G. The IoT market will likely pass the $1 trillion mark by 2025, roughly equivalent to estimated revenue for the mobile market in 2018.

That doesn’t mean that 4G is going away. If anything, the 5G rollout will speed up implementation of the previous technology, and it’s forecasted to reach 59% of total worldwide mobile connections by 2025.