Wednesday, March 16, 2022

5G Uptake Actually is Not Low: the S Curve Still Holds

It is not hard to find critics citing slow 5G uptake as a problem. It might be more accurate to say 5G adoption is slower in some markets than in others. 


Though we are not yet at peak 4G in every market--4G subscriptions are growing in Latin America, Asia Pacific, CIS, MENA and Sub-Saharan Africa--we likely are past peak 4G in China, Europe and North America, according to GSMA estimates. 


source: GSMA 


Right now, by an old rule of thumb, 5G already has reached the point where consumer adoption has reached and passed a key inflection point. Generally speaking, once any popular consumer technology or product reaches 10 percent of households, the mass market begins to adopt as well. 


source: GSMA 


Consumer uptake in most markets has yet to reach the point where consumer adoption accelerates. So we can expect to see “5G has failed” storylines for some time. Not until consumer take rates approach 10 percent will we see an adoption inflection point for 5G. 


That is the pattern for virtually all successful consumer product innovations. 


source: GSMA 


source: LikeFolio 


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