Middle East and North Africa Emerge as a Fast-Growing 5G Market

Global 5G mobile subscriptions passed the three billion mark during the first quarter of 2026; 5G Standalone (SA) network slicing commercial offerings from communications service providers continue to grow significantly; while uplink mobile data traffic growth is already outpacing downlink for many service providers. All this and more features in the June 2026 edition of the Ericsson  Mobility Report (EMR).

The 162 million new 5G subscriptions added globally during the first quarter of 2026 brought the total past the three billion mark, to 3.1 billion subscriptions. This figure is expected to grow rapidly and is forecast to more than double (to 6.4 billion) by the end of 2031. Some 390 service providers have launched commercial 5G services to date, underlining the pace of 5G adoption worldwide. Changing user behavior is also reflected in the June 2026 EMR network traffic statistics.

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region presents one of the most compelling growth trajectories in the June 2026 EMR.

The region currently counts 750 million mobile subscriptions, with 80 million already on 5G – up from 60 million a year ago, representing a 33 percent year-on-year increase. While 5G penetration stands at 11 percent today, the report’s forecasts reframe this figure not as a ceiling, but as a significant runway for future expansion. By the end of 2031, 5G subscriptions in MENA are forecast to reach 370 million – more than quadrupling current levels.

Mobile data traffic in MENA is projected to nearly triple, rising from 11 to 30 exabytes per month, while the average smartphone user is expected to consume 47 GB per month, driven by the accelerating adoption of AI-powered applications, extended reality (XR) experiences, and an increasingly connected, autonomous ecosystem across the region.

“MENA’s connectivity landscape is shifting rapidly, and this report makes that direction clear. Mobile networks in the region are no longer simply a means of communication, they are becoming the foundation on which people, businesses, and entire economies will build their digital future. As demand for richer, more intelligent connectivity accelerates, the region’s networks are well-positioned to meet that moment and to drive meaningful transformation across every sector.”

– Kevin Murphy, President of North Middle East, Ericsson

Deep dive/partner use case articles in the June 2026 EMR include:

• A closer look at the growth of differentiated connectivity offerings from service providers around the world.
• The rise of uplink demand in AI-driven mobile networks.
• Why mobile connectivity is key to AI-driven enterprise transformation.
• Co-written with Qualcomm: A look at the evolution of AI-enabled XR in networks. AI is expanding into mobile experiences, with smart glasses and other wearables emerging as new complementary user interfaces that extend digital interactions.