The 5G Economy

5G in America

5G is here and Americans all over the country are using it to create the future and enhance America’s economic competitiveness.

Interactive Map

Manufacturing

Smart Cities

5G cuts transportation costs each year by:

$450B

5G cuts transportation costs each year by:

$450B

Transportation

Education

Public Safety

Energy

Agriculture

5G’s nationwide rollout was faster then 4G by:

40%

5G’s nationwide rollout was faster then 4G by:

40%

Home Broadband

5G will reduce transportation emissions by:

90%

5G will reduce transportation emissions by:

90%

Manufacturing

Energy

Introduction

5G is connecting kids to learning opportunities, making farms more sustainable, fighting wildfires, making manufacturing smart and driverless cars a reality.

America leads the world in 5G thanks to historic investment from America’s competitive wireless providers who challenge each other every day to build the world’s biggest, broadest and most secure 5G networks. Explore these stories and learn more about how the wireless industry is helping secure America’s leadership of the innovations and industries of the future.

Education

5G is helping teachers and students stay ahead of the curve and providing opportunities to learn through immersive applications such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) that are sparking imagination and increasing engagement.

Kids can explore a 100+ VR field trips on any device so we’re showing them careers, we’re showing them new ideas and that really changes their outlook on life.

Investment

The wireless industry invests billions of dollars every year to build, upgrade, and maintain its networks. Wireless carriers have invested $705 billion to date—and $190 billion of that investment has been spent since 2018, the year 5G was launched.

$190B
since the beginning of 2018

$515^B

Cumulative

(2017)

$571^B

Cumulative

(2019)

$636^B

Cumulative

(2021)

$705^B

Cumulative

(2023)

Transportation

Innovators across America are using 5G to make cars driverless and roads more efficient. It’s making travel 40% faster, cutting transportation costs by $450B each year, and could even reduce up to 90% of transportation emissions.

Accelerating travel by:

40%

Cutting transportation costs each year by:

$450B

Reducing transportation emissions by:

90%

Halo.Car is transforming mobility through the use of autonomous electric passenger vehicles enabled by 5G.

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5G Rollout

Since 5G was launched in 2018, three nationwide networks—and regional provider networks across the U.S.—already cover 330 million Americans. The first 5G network achieved nationwide coverage 2x as fast as 4G, and all three built nationwide networks 42% faster than 4G.

42%

faster than 4G

5G already covers
330 Million Americans

We’re going to create the city streets of the future, we’re going to create these environments. 5G is going to be the overlying coverage that makes it a reality.

Smart Cities

5G is the engine of smart city innovation, with wireless-powered smart city solutions expected to deliver $160B in benefits and savings through things like lower energy use and less congestion. Sensors will monitor the health and safety of critical infrastructure like buildings, roads, and bridges, while connected trash cans, bus stops, light poles and more will help cities operate more efficiently.

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Manufacturing

Advanced manufacturing is critical to our nation’s competitiveness, economic growth and quality of life. 5G is helping American factories springboard into the future of safety, sustainability and innovation, thanks to AR and VR training, advanced robotics, and real-time information sharing.

5G spectrum gives us tons of bandwidth which is really important for the great amount of new use cases, for instance the AMRs, autonomous mobile robots, get their missions over 5G. 5G helps you collect more data and collect it faster and react more quickly.

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Availability

America was the first large country to have three nationwide 5G networks and is one of the world leaders in 5G availability—which refers to how often 5G-capable cellphones connect to a 5G network. More spectrum is needed to secure our 5G leadership.

United States

76%

China

90%

South Korea

91%

Australia

61%

France

63%

Germany

61%

United Kingdom

30%

Canada

71%

United Arab Emirates

55%

Spain

50%

Italy

42%

Japan

18%

Brazil

Agriculture

5G’s fast speeds, high capacity and low latency are helping reimagine and enhance food production from farm to fork, enabling precise applications of water and fertilizer, and giving farmers more data about their operations and fields.

In the past, farmers just turned the water on when they thought the field was dry and were wasting a lot of water. We’re helping the farmer to precisely irrigate that field.

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Consumer Adoption

Americans are flocking to 5G. Today, nearly 40% of all wireless devices—from phones to smartwatches, IoT devices, and more—have a 5G connection, a 34% increase over 2022.

2020

465M Wireless Connections

14M Active 5G Devices

2021

499M Wireless Connections

86M Active 5G Devices

2022

523M Wireless Connections

162M Active 5G Devices

2023

558M Wireless Connections

216M Active 5G Devices

2023

40%

2022

31%

2021

17%

2020

Public Safety

When it comes to keeping people safe, knowledge is power and speed is everything. 5G delivers both, exponentially increasing our access to video, data and virtual worlds and accelerating our ability to respond.

The ability to deploy high resolution cameras in key locations across the globe will be critical to helping humanity cope with climate disasters. You need 5G technology to be able to do it.

Speed

After growing fast out of the gate (5x faster than 4G in the first years after launch), 5G is getting better every day. As new mid-band spectrum is put into service, median download speeds are now routinely over 100 Mbps, and continually getting faster.

19 Mbps

in 2016

27 Mbps

in 2018

44 Mbps

in 2020

128 Mbps

in 2022

Home Broadband

From rural communities to our biggest cities, more and more Americans are turning to 5G to get the reliable, high-speed broadband they need to live, work and learn. For some, it’s the first time they’ve had a choice. For others, it’s the first connection they’ve ever had. Together, they’ve made 5G America’s fastest growing home broadband service.

Living in a rural community in the middle of nowhere there was pretty much no options but satellite internet. When I got 5G it was night and day. It was perfect. The 5G broadband just opened up doors.

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5G Home Broadband Adoption

5G home was the connection of choice for 96% of new broadband subscribers in 2023.

94M households are covered
by 5G home broadband

100

in 2020

96%

in 2023

Accessibility

Now more than ever, wireless connectivity is essential to our daily lives – allowing us to stay in touch with friends and family, work, track and improve our health and fitness and much more. 5G is playing a key role in enabling this for all Americans, breaking down barriers and enhancing opportunity.

Auction Revenue

In addition to capital expenditures, the industry has also spent billions of dollars on spectrum licenses to fuel our 5G ambitions. Since 1993, wireless providers have invested $233B in FCC spectrum auctions to power mobile networks—over $108B since 2020 alone.

Over $108B since
2020 alone.

$233B

In FCC spectrum auctions to power mobile networks

Energy

5G is playing a key role in making a more efficient and more sustainable energy industry. 5G enables energy companies to monitor both production and consumption in real time so they can optimize production and manage demand automatically. 5G also enables remote operations, allowing energy companies to invest in and manage greener sources of energy, such as wind farms, which are typically located in isolated areas.

5G can essentially help all those massive number of renewables that we have on the grid be able to talk to each other, maintain communication and maintain the quality of service that we require from them. To get 100% renewables, we need to have 5G.

The Importance of Licensed Spectrum and Wireless Telecommunications to the American Economy, Compass Lexecon, December 7, 2022, at https://www.ctia.org/news/the-importance-of-licensed-spectrum-and-wireless-telecommunications-to-the-american-economy.
How 5G Can Help Municipalities Become Vibrant Smart Cities, Accenture, January 12, 2017, at https://www.accenture.com/t20170222T202102__w__/us-en/_acnmedia/PDF-43/Accenture-5G-Municipalities-Become-Smart-Cities.pdf.
5G Promises Massive Job and GDP Growth in the US, Boston Consulting Group, February 2, 2021, at https://api.ctia.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/5G-Promises-Massive-Job-and-GDP-Growth-in-the-US_Feb-2021.pdf.
Wireless Connectivity Fuels Industry Growth and Innovation in Energy, Health, Public Safety, and Transportation, Deloitte, January 19, 2017, at https://api.ctia.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/deloitte_2017011987f8479664c467a6bc70ff0000ed09a9.pdf.
Wireless Connectivity Fuels Industry Growth and Innovation in Energy, Health, Public Safety, and Transportation, Deloitte, January 19, 2017, at https://api.ctia.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/deloitte_2017011987f8479664c467a6bc70ff0000ed09a9.pdf.
How 5G Can Help Municipalities Become Vibrant Smart Cities, Accenture, January 12, 2017, at https://www.accenture.com/t20170222T202102__w__/us-en/_acnmedia/PDF-43/Accenture-5G-Municipalities-Become-Smart-Cities.pdf.
Commercial Wireless Networks: The Essential Foundation of the Drone Industry, CTIA, November 11, 2017, at https://api.ctia.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/drone_whitepaper_final_approved.pdf.
Wireless Connectivity Fuels Industry Growth and Innovation in Energy, Health, Public Safety, and Transportation, Deloitte, January 19, 2017, at https://api.ctia.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/deloitte_2017011987f8479664c467a6bc70ff0000ed09a9.pdf.
How America’s 4G Leadership Propelled the U.S. Economy, Recon Analytics, April 16, 2018.