Global 5G consumer market seen at $31 trillion by 2030: Ericsson report

The global 5G consumer market could be worth USD 31 trillion by 2030, a new report by Ericsson has estimated.

The report also estimates that communications service providers (CSPs) could earn USD 3.7 trillion in the cumulative 5G-enabled consumer revenues by 2030.

"The 5G consumer market could be worth USD 31 trillion by 2030 globally", said the report titled 'Harnessing the 5G Consumer Potential' from Ericsson ConsumerLab.

The report also predicted that CSPs could generate up to USD 131 billion by 2030 from digital service revenues alone, by proactively bundling and marketing 5G use cases.

"About 40 percent of these revenue projections are attributed to consumer spending on enhanced video, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and cloud gaming over 5G networks," it said.

The report said that AR is likely to drive over half of all consumer spending on immersive media by 2030 starting with gaming and extending to areas such as shopping, education and remote collaboration.

It also highlighted how the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on personal finances and financial priorities may have affected consumers' willingness to pay a premium for 5G subscriptions.

"In early 2019, the average consumer was willing to pay a 20 percent premium for 5G. As 2020 draws to an end, that figure has dropped to 10 percent," it said.

Still, one in three early adopters globally are still willing to pay a 20 percent premium.

Such high levels of early adopter take-up could help drive economic recovery, as per the report.

By proactively driving 5G consumer adoption, CSPs could gain 34 percent higher 5G average revenue per user (ARPU) by 2030, the report said.

"This could boost consumer revenues at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.7 percent compared to flat revenue growth of 0.03 percent by taking a passive approach across the decade," it said.