The Global System for Mobile Telecommunications Association (GSMA) disclosed in “The Mobile Economy 2023 Report” that 5G is expected to benefit the global economy by more than $950 billion in 2030, or more than 15% of the overall economic impact of mobile.
According to the GSMA, much of this will materialize in developed regions, including East Asia and the Pacific, North America, and Europe, which are expected to see strong growth in the next five years. Towards the end of the decade, low- and middle-income countries are expected to realize an increasing proportion of 5G’s economic benefits as the technology starts to achieve scale and widespread adoption. The services and manufacturing industries will benefit the most from 5G technologies over the next decade. The impacts on other economic sectors are expected to be of a lower magnitude but will increase as they start to incorporate 5G use cases.
The GSMA also pointed out that mobile operators and the wider mobile ecosystem provided direct employment to around 16 million people across the world. In addition, the economic activity in the ecosystem generated 12 million jobs in other sectors, meaning that around 28 million jobs were directly or indirectly supported.
