ERICSSON

Company raises forecast for 5G network subscriptions in 2025

Ericsson announced on Monday that it had increased its forecast of 5G global subscriptions to about 2.8 billion in 2025, from 2.6 billion previously, with the increase being attributed to the coronavirus pandemic.
The telecommunications sector has been one of the few to see an increase in demand, despite the economic uncertainty linked to the pandemic, the result of more people working remotely in the face of isolation rules.
Patrik Cerwall, head of marketing strategies at Ericsson, said the forecast for 2020 would also be increased, but gave no further details. "In the long run, we look at 2025 with 2.8 billion 5G subscriptions," he said at an online seminar held by the company.
Ericsson is competing with Nokia and Huawei Technologies for telecommunications customers who want to upgrade their networks to 5G.
The company, which will publish its Semiannual Mobility Report next month, said that in November the adoption of 5G networks was significantly faster than that of LTE networks, and that 5G subscriptions would represent 29% of all mobile subscriptions in 2025.

By Helena Soderpalm and Supantha Mukherjee