“…the report predicts that by 2025, there will be about 1.4 billion 5G connections around the world, accounting for 15 percent of the global mobile market.”

Just ahead of this year’s Mobile World Congress, the GSMA has issued a new report predicting the spread of 5G networks and the transformative impact it will deliver together with artificial intelligence, smart platforms, and the Internet of Things.

Entitled, “Intelligent Connectivity: How the Combination of 5G, AI, Big Data and IoT Is Set to Change Everything”, the report predicts that by 2025, there will be about 1.4 billion 5G connections around the world, accounting for 15 percent of the global mobile market. And 5G networks will cover 40 percent of the global population, reaching 2.7 billion people.

This will entail substantial changes in terms of the technologies that use cellular connectivity, with digital entertainment becoming richer, and VR and AR becoming more supportable in everyday use. But it will also help to traffic data to and from Internet of Things devices, allowing for innovative AI deployments that can help to manage traffic and optimize industrial and agricultural production.

As GSMA Director General Mats Granryd commented in a statement announcing the new report, “The combination of 5G, the IoT, Big Data and AI will impact almost every aspect of our daily lives from the way we consume entertainment to the way in which we learn and interact with colleagues – all underpinned by ubiquitous hyper-connectivity.”

That’s part of the reason the GSMA issued a call earlier this week urging MNO and policy leaders to work together to facilitate the transition to 5G. And this will likely be an important topic during next week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, where Mobile ID World will be reporting live throughout the event, which runs from February 25th to 28th.