5G commercial is gaining momentum globally. According to the latest GSA data, as of July 21, 2019, 35 operators around the world announced their commercial use of 3GPP5G international standards in 20 countries and regions. This is twice more than the number in early June.
New 5G commercial operators in July, mainly in the Middle East and Europe, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Middle East, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain in Europe also opened 5G commercial. But the scale is still relatively small.
As for the 5G terminals, as of July 21, 2019, the total number of 5G terminals announced worldwide was 94, an increase of nearly 40% compared with June. Among them, there are 25 smartphones, 23 5G modules, and 23 CPE models.
Among the 5G terminals, Samsung benefited from South Korea’s first 5G commercial and US commercial use, taking the lead. China is in the second position. In this market, Huawei, Honor, ZTE, OPPO, VIVO, Lenovo, and other brands of 5G smartphones have already released their own models or will release soon.
When it comes to the users, South Korea has performed the best by benefiting from the high subsidies of operators. By the end of June, the number of 5G users in Korea has reached 1.65 million, with a total of 2.13 million worldwide. In other words, more than 77% of all 5G users come from South Korea. This sounds odd but we should also note this country was the first to launch the commercial use of 5G network. Of course, it the nearest future, everything will change and most likely South Korea won’t be in the leading positions.