Only 1% of CALA’s Population Has Access to 5G

Latin America and the Caribbean are lagging far behind Asia and the Arabian Gulf when it comes to expanding coverage of ultra-fast 5G services.

Today, 5G connections account for less than 1% of total mobile connections in CALA. The region will have to wait another seven years for the ultra-fast networks to reach 50% of its population, according to GSMA, an industry association of global mobile network operators.

More than a dozen countries in the region had launched 5G services by June 2022, with Brazil leading the way by auctioning off a large amount of spectrum.

The GSMA attributes the slowdown to the high cost of networking hardware and cellphones that can access 5G signals. By the end of 2025, the agency projects that 11% of CALA wireless connections will be 5G.

Part of the reason for the high cost of 5G-enabled smartphones is that there are still not enough of these devices on the market to make them affordable for most people.

Only when the devices cost less than US$125 will the adoption rate of 5G accelerate. Some analysts, however, believe that the price of 5G smartphones will fall below $150 by the end of this year.

5G networks provide ultra-fast broadband services, easing the task of promoting telemedicine and speeding up industrial automation.

According to the GSMA report, Asian and Arab countries lead in 5G coverage.