Research: 5G connections will hit 1.4bn by 2025 as wireless rivals fibre

Juniper Research has predicted 5G will exceed one billion connections by 2025 as wireless becomes a competitor to fibre broadband.

If you’re an avid reader you will be aware 5G developments are ramping up and some players even predict a launch prior to 2020, the current target. Nokia’s CEO, Rajeev Suri, believes it will begin to be defined in “real terms” before the end of the year.

"2020 is probably when we'll see global volume deployments, but we'll probably start to see a lot of action, in an evolutionary way, ahead of 2020 – 2017, 2018, 2019," Suri said during a press briefing at MWC this year.

Juniper forecasts the following countries will lead in the number of 5G connections by 2025:

• China

• U.S.

• Japan

Combined, these countries are expected to account for 55 percent of global 5G connections. It highlights a need for regions such as Europe to adopt a more leading role in the development and rollout of the next-generation technology.

The U.S. moves into the number one spot when narrowing down the results to 5G IoT connections. In this area, the U.S. alone is expected to account for over 20 percent of global connections by 2025.

However, Juniper is predicting a low ARPC (Average Revenue Per Connection) for 5G IoT due to low data requirements and nominal duty-cycles. Operators should be looking at minimising operating costs to account for this. Software-based solutions can help with managing the diverse nature of 5G connections for IoT devices.

“Operators and vendors must test their networks in a real-world environment at scale, ensuring speeds can compete with fibre services,” noted research author Sam Barker. “Networks that can deliver the highest speeds and greatest reliability will command the highest ARPCs, hastening an operator's return on 5G investment.”

A free whitepaper titled ‘5g: How Operators Can Maximise ROI’ can be found here.

Do you agree with Juniper’s 5G predictions? Share your thoughts in the comments.