NEW DELHI: India contributed the highest number of mobile subscriptions (7 million) followed by China and the US in Q2 2023, according to the Mobility Report released by Ericsson on Tuesday.
China added 5 million, while the US added 3 million new customers in the second quarter, bringing the total global mobile subscriptions to 8.3 billion. Global mobile subscription penetration reached 105% in the second quarter.
According to a report by a telecom gear maker, global 5G subscriptions grew by 175 million in Q2 2023, bringing the total global number of 5G subscriptions close to 1.3 billion. The report also noted that around 260 communications service providers (CSPs) have launched commercial 5G services, with 35 CSPs launching 5G standalone (SA) networks.
In terms of 4G subscriptions, they increased by 11 million, totaling about 5.2 billion, representing 62% of all mobile subscriptions.
The number of mobile broadband subscriptions grew by about 100 million in the quarter, totaling 7.4 billion, which marks a year-on-year increase of 5%. Mobile broadband now accounts for 88% of all mobile subscriptions. Mobile data traffic grew by 33% between Q2 2022 and Q2 2023.
In contrast, WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) and HSPA (High-Speed Packet Access), which operate on 3G technology, witnessed an 85 million reduction in subscriptions, while GSM/EDGE-only subscriptions decreased by 59 million during the quarter.