Global 5G Subscriptions Surpass Three Billion Milestone

The report highlights that 390 service providers have now launched commercial 5G services, with over 90 deploying standalone 5G networks. This shift toward standalone architecture is enabling more complex service offerings, such as network slicing, which grew from 65 to 84 commercial instances in just six months. Ericsson CTO Erik Ekudden notes that as mobile networks evolve into intelligent infrastructure, they are increasingly defined by their ability to support distributed AI agents rather than just providing basic connectivity.

Data traffic patterns are shifting as well. For the majority of service providers, uplink traffic—driven by cloud storage, collaborative apps, and user-generated content—is growing faster than downlink. In 17 of the 55 networks analyzed, the uplink growth rate was at least 1.5 times higher than the downlink rate. Looking ahead, Ericsson anticipates that AI integration could cause uplink traffic to triple by 2031 compared to 2025 levels. Meanwhile, 5G-based fixed wireless access continues to expand, with 71 percent of providers now utilizing the technology, marking the largest annual increase in four years.