Analysts at Omdia estimate global 5G connections will reach 4.8 billion by the end of 2026.
Of that, 516 million is expected to come from North America and 301 million from Latin America and the Caribbean.
Omdia principal analyst, Kristin Paulin, said: “While Oceania Eastern and South-Eastern Asia, which includes China, will account for more than half of all 5G subscriptions at the end of 2026, the Americas region will manage to carve out a 17% portion after growing 1,000% from 2021 to 2026.”
By region, North America had a total of 56.5 million 5G connections by the end of Q3 2021, which is an addition of 12.5 million 5G connections – a gain of 28% quarter over quarter. Additionally, it had 505 million LTE connections by the end of Q3 2021.
4G LTE still remains the dominant wireless cellular technology in Latin America and the Caribbean with 484.6 million connections. That represents 21% annual growth with the addition of 82.8 million new LTE subscriptions year over year.
Jose Otero, Vice President of Caribbean and Latin America for 5G Americas, said: “With 16 commercial deployments in the Caribbean and Latin America region, 5G continues to make progress. In the upcoming years, as more spectrum, enhanced coverage and devices become available, 5G connections will increase substantially in the region.”
