Second Quarter of 2021 Saw Surge in 5G

There was a dramatic increase in 5G wireless adoption over the second quarter of this year, according to 5G Americas' press release on September 22:

By region, Omdia data indicates North America [U.S. and Canada] had a total of 44.6 million 5G connections by the end of Q2 2021, which is an addition of 17.9 million 5G connections and 67 percent quarter over quarter growth. Additionally, it had 501 million LTE connections by the end of Q2 2021, which marks a 0.66 percent quarterly decline in LTE.

In a pair of recent Perspectives from FSF Scholars, I wrote about how timely sunset of 3G networks – including AT&T's and T-Mobile's legacy networks – is one important factor in facilitating 5G adoption. Repurposing of additional spectrum from government use to licensed commercial use – particularly in the lower 3 GHz band – also will help realize the speed and capacity potential of 5G networks and thereby boost the U.S. economy and create new jobs.