Global 5G Subscriptions Pass 3.1 Billion as Uplink Traffic Accelerates

Overview

• Ericsson's June 2026 Mobility Report, published Tuesday, shows 162 million new 5G subscriptions were added in Q1 2026, taking the global total to about 3.1 billion.
• The vendor forecasts 5G subscriptions will more than double to roughly 6.4 billion by 2031 and expects 5G to carry about 85 percent of mobile traffic by then.
• Commercial 5G Standalone network-slicing offers rose from 65 in November 2025 to 84 in the June report, with slicing described as a way to reserve parts of the network for guaranteed performance for specific uses.
• Fixed wireless access over 5G is expanding fast, with 71 percent of FWA providers offering 5G and 57 percent using speed-based tariff plans to monetize different customer segments.
• Measured traffic patterns across 55 service providers found 43 with faster uplink growth than downlink, and Ericsson's modeling says uplink could become multiple times larger by 2031 as collaboration apps, user uploads, cloud sync and AI workloads grow, a shift that will alter capacity planning and customer experience.