The number of fifth-generation mobile network (5G) subscriptions worldwide has surpassed 3 billion.
According to the Ericsson Mobility Report published on the 17th by the global telecommunications equipment corporations Ericsson, the number of 5G subscriptions worldwide increased by 162 million in the first quarter of this year, reaching a total of 3.1 billion. This figure is expected to more than double to 6.4 billion by the end of 2031.
So far, about 390 telecom operators worldwide have launched commercial 5G services, and more than 90 of them have adopted 5G standalone mode (SA·Stand Alone), it was found. In Korea, among the three telecom companies, only KT has adopted 5G SA.
As of the end of 2025, 48% of total mobile data traffic was handled over 5G networks, and this share is expected to expand to 85% by the end of 2031. Western Europe, North America, Northeast Asia, and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are expected to approach or exceed a 90% 5G mobile subscription penetration rate by the end of 2031.
Meanwhile, most telecom operators recorded a higher growth rate in uplink traffic than in downlink. Uplink refers to the traffic used when devices such as smartphones send data to a base station (or server), and downlink refers to the traffic used when a base station (or server) sends data to a device.
In Ericsson's network traffic measurements of 55 telecom operators, 43 operators had a higher uplink growth rate than downlink. Among them, 17 operators showed an uplink growth rate at least 1.5 times higher than downlink. According to Ericsson's scenario modeling, if additional traffic related to artificial intelligence (AI) is reflected, uplink traffic in 2031 could increase more than threefold compared with 2025.