5G data is now more than double that of 3G – overtaking it for the first time ever. Faster connectivity is being driven by more widely available 5G devices, with purchases quadrupling in 2021 and Three is predicting that 5G will account for 35% of data usage by the end of 2022.
According to the report Three UK’s 5G service is now live in over 370 locations in the UK covering over a third of the UK population.
Interestingly, the pandemic not only gave rise to new ways of communicating but also brought more of a focus on the old-fashioned phone call. During the first lockdown, voice calls peaked at record highs and over the course of 2020, calls averaged 16% longer in length. That trend has continued throughout 2021 with the number and total minutes of calls both increasing.
Three UK says that while 5G is booming, 2022 is also set to be the year of the phone call with two in five (39%) people now preferring calling to texting and a third (30%) making more audio calls than pre lockdown.
