2023-11-27 17:01:00
To date, there is no breakthrough innovation that would make the transition to 5G essential for individuals. However, this technology promotes an increase in data exchanged on mobile networks. This is what emerges from the latest annual survey by the GSMA, the mobile industry lobby, published on November 23. Concretely, data consumption on 3G, 4G and 5G networks “will triple” on the Old Continent by 2028, affirms this survey. For what ? Firstly because 4G mobile coverage is improving, particularly in central and eastern Europe. Then because the deployment of the new 5G is accelerating.
The GSMA emphasizes that subscribers who upgrade from 4G to 5G are, naturally, becoming more “data-vores”, and want packages with larger data envelopes. The lobby justifies this trend by the rise of mobile video games ” High quality “augmented reality services, or even high definition video content.
“Continuous investments”
This digital appetite will require, according to the GSMA, “continued investments in European mobile networks by operators”. They are expected to spend nearly 200 billion euros by 2030 to ” upgrade “ their infrastructure, mainly in 5G. This one “will become the dominant mobile technology in Europe over the next three years”, the GSMA still insists. 5G should, according to its forecasts, “reach 87% of users” by 2030, compared to 11% in 2022. At the same time, over the same period, the level of 4G penetration should fall from 75% to 12%.
The GSMA further estimates that the economic contribution of the mobile industry in Europe will significantly increase, from 910 billion euros (or 4.3% of European GDP) in 2022, to more than 1,000 billion euros. euros in 2030. The lobby thus recalls the benefits of 5G for digitizing the economic fabric, and in particular industry.
The slow deployment of 5G in Europe
That said, the GSMA believes that the deployment of 5G is happening too slowly in Europe compared to other countries, such as the United States or China. Only 5% of European 5G networks are “ standalone » (which allows all the capabilities of this technology to be used), notes the lobby, compared to 25% of networks in the Asia-Pacific region. It alerts on a “loss of leadership” European technology. This might, in the long term, result in a lack of innovation and a deterioration of the continent’s economic competitiveness.
The GSMA also underlines that while operator investments are expected to rise sharply in the deployment of 5G, their revenues are expected to only increase slightly: from 156 to 162 billion euros between 2022 and 2030. C This is, in the eyes of the lobby, the main weakness of the European mobile industry, characterized by a multitude of players and strong competition which keeps prices, and therefore margins, at low levels.
More than 10 million 5G customers in France
In France, 5G is finally starting to take hold. According to Arcep, the telecoms regulator, France recently passed the 10 million subscriber mark across the country. The proportion of users “amounts to 13% of the total number of SIM cards in service”, or 7 points more in one year. Arcep also noted an increase in data consumption. “Traffic per active 4G customer amounts to 15.4 GB per month, or 1.8 GB more in one year and per subscriber”she observed.
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