Technology

Visualizing the State of 5G Networks Worldwide

Published

4 years ago

October 6, 2020

Iman Ghosh

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Visualizing the State of 5G Networks Worldwide

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By 2025, the world will reach 1.8 billion 5G connections—led by Developed Asia and North America, two regions that could each see nearly half of mobile connections operating on 5G networks.

This sweeping rollout relies on infrastructure capacities, and many operators are buying in big to usher in 5G adoption. This infographic from Raconteur covers where we are on the roadmap towards 5G becoming mainstream, and which regions are leading the way in connectivity.

Commercial Launches of 5G Networks

From its earliest iterations to the Internet of Things, we’ve surpassed three generations of wireless networks. Now, 5G is at a tipping point.

5G is unique in that in order to actually start using the network, you need a device that works on it—unlike previous generations where they could simply switch over. Moreover, carriers need to invest in the infrastructure to optimize network access and the density of devices using it.

As more operators buy into the technology, the latter is finally beginning to happen in some areas. Here’s how the total numbers break down across the world, as of mid-September 2020:

397 operators are investing in 5G mobile or 5G fixed wireless access/home broadband networks
118 operators have announced the deployment of 5G within their live network
96 operators have announced 3GPP (protocols for mobile telecomms) 5G service launches

Major phone operators and even tech companies are behind accelerating this change, from Vodafone to Verizon—and most recently, Microsoft has entered the playing field.

Cross-Generational Mobile Connections, By Region

As Cisco highlights, there’s more room to grow yet. By 2023, North America will have the highest share of 5G networks, at 17% within the region.

Region	≤ 3G	4G	5G	LPWA
Asia Pacific	23%	52%	13%	12%
Latin America	37%	50%	2%	16%
North America	1%	45%	17%	37%
Western Europe	13%	43%	16%	28%
Central & Eastern Europe	31%	50%	2%	16%
Middle East & Africa	73%	22%	1%	4%
World	29%	46%	11%	14%

*Low-power wide-area (LPWA) networks are a generic type of network that can coexist across 2G, 3G, and 4G. Network shares may not add up due to rounding.

Meanwhile, the Middle East and Africa could have the most catching up to do, with 73% of the region still operating on 3G networks or less in 2023. The good news? Commercial 5G trials in Nigeria may signal the potential of networks leapfrogging ahead.

Need for Speed

As the number of 5G networks tick up, there will be an undeniable boost to mobile and broadband speeds (Mbps) across regions by 2023. In particular, Asia Pacific will have the fastest broadband speeds at 157 Mbps while Western Europe will lead with 62 Mbps on mobile.

Region	Mobile (2018)	Mobile (2023)	Broadband (2018)	Broadband (2023)
Asia Pacific	14.3	45.7	62.8	157.1
Latin America	8.0	28.8	15.7	59.3
North America	21.6	58.4	56.6	141.8
Western Europe	23.6	62.4	45.6	123.0
Central & Eastern Europe	12.9	43.0	35.0	87.7
Middle East & Africa	6.9	24.8	9.7	41.2
World	13.2	43.9	45.9	110.4

Faster speeds is one of several factors catapulting the promise of 5G networks to unlock transformations across entire industries, from manufacturing to healthcare.

What further advancements could dial reach region’s share of 5G networks all the way up?

Related Topics:technology IOT 5g 5G network

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Technology

Visualizing AI Patents by Country

See which countries have been granted the most AI patents each year, from 2012 to 2022.

Published

1 day ago

April 24, 2024

Marcus Lu

Visualizing AI Patents by Country

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

This infographic shows the number of AI-related patents granted each year from 2010 to 2022 (latest data available). These figures come from the Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), accessed via Stanford University’s 2024 AI Index Report.

From this data, we can see that China first overtook the U.S. in 2013. Since then, the country has seen enormous growth in the number of AI patents granted each year.

Year	China	EU and UK	U.S.	RoW	Global Total
2010	307	137	984	571	1,999
2011	516	129	980	581	2,206
2012	926	112	950	660	2,648
2013	1,035	91	970	627	2,723
2014	1,278	97	1,078	667	3,120
2015	1,721	110	1,135	539	3,505
2016	1,621	128	1,298	714	3,761
2017	2,428	144	1,489	1,075	5,136
2018	4,741	155	1,674	1,574	8,144
2019	9,530	322	3,211	2,720	15,783
2020	13,071	406	5,441	4,455	23,373
2021	21,907	623	8,219	7,519	38,268
2022	35,315	1,173	12,077	13,699	62,264

In 2022, China was granted more patents than every other country combined.

While this suggests that the country is very active in researching the field of artificial intelligence, it doesn’t necessarily mean that China is the farthest in terms of capability.

Key Facts About AI Patents

According to CSET, AI patents relate to mathematical relationships and algorithms, which are considered abstract ideas under patent law. They can also have different meaning, depending on where they are filed.

In the U.S., AI patenting is concentrated amongst large companies including IBM, Microsoft, and Google. On the other hand, AI patenting in China is more distributed across government organizations, universities, and tech firms (e.g. Tencent).

In terms of focus area, China’s patents are typically related to computer vision, a field of AI that enables computers and systems to interpret visual data and inputs. Meanwhile America’s efforts are more evenly distributed across research fields.

Learn More About AI From Visual Capitalist

If you want to see more data visualizations on artificial intelligence, check out this graphic that shows which job departments will be impacted by AI the most.