5G: South Korea Stays in the Lead

South Korea was the first country to have its own large-scale 5G network and the country has already turned this head start into a lead over other countries when it comes to 5G adoption. Analysts from GSMA Intelligence expect this trend to continue and predict that 59 percent of Korean cell phones will run on the standard by 2025, compared with 47 percent each in the China and Japan and 55 percent in the U.S.

The countries expected to grow their market segments most over the next four years are typically those that – as of May 2020 – already had providers offering commercial 5G contracts. This applies to the above-mentioned places as well as states on the Gulf, which are expected to reach a share of 21 percent 5G subscriptions by 2025. While GSMA’s report on Europe’s 5G landscape on a country-by-country basis is not out yet, the company expects 5G adoption in Europe to reach 29 percent overall by 2025. Countries with operational 5G networks in Europe include Germany, Poland, Spain, the UK, Ireland, Italy, Romania, Finland, Norway and Hungary, according to the new Statista report "A Mobile Connected World."